


Ghosts That We Knew

by MelindaTheCavalryMay



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre Season 2, Somewhat alternate universe, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-02-24 23:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 50,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2600489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelindaTheCavalryMay/pseuds/MelindaTheCavalryMay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few months into being new Director Of SHIELD, Coulson is working hard into bringing SHIELD back to its original glory. With May by his side, obstacles seem simpler and somewhat easier to tackle, but what happens when a figment of his past comes knocking into his present ? When everything seems dark, Phil finds his 'Only Light in Darkness'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own AoS, nor do I work for Marvel (I sure hope to some day). I'm still quite an amateur in writing fanfics, but I decided to give NaNoWriMo a shot just for fun.
> 
> This is basically my entry for NaNoWriMo this year. My target is to reach 50K words before November ends, so wish me luck. 
> 
> This is set before Season 2 began. A lot of the stuff mentioned is quite different from what is actually happening in the show now, that is why it's somewhat an AU

"Good morning AC" Skye said as soon as she saw him coming to the breakfast table. "Good morning" is what he replied with a voice which wasn't as chirpy as Skye's. The rest of the team wouldn't have noticed it but someone surely did. She knew him too well to guess in a second that something was wrong with him.  
Melinda knew that if she would ask him, he would simply avoid saying he was ok, so she decided to give him time knowing that he would speak when he wanted to because she was the only one he usually confided in, when things were depressing.

Though life for the team wasn't back to what it was before, it would still be considered much better considered everything they had been through in the recent times. They had started spending more time in the bus now, atleast during breakfast every day. Skye was training with May and was becoming a much better agent, Jemma was there helping Fotz with his recovery along with Trip.One wouldn't say he was perfectly fine yet, but compared to what his state was when the incident happened with Ward sometime back; he was definitely much much better. On Phil's insistence the doctors had decided to discharge him and let him recover on the playground with his team and with Jemma beside him rather than a hospital room. His physiotherapy and recovery was under May's charge and they were doing a good job at that. 

Once breakfast was done everyone retreated to doing what they usually did. The new SHIELD was not quite ready yet. Phil was doing a good job considering the obstacles he was facing constantly with the government especially General Talbott and other Hydra agents always ready, waiting for them to come out of their hiding so that they could be 'taken care of' and to add to those obstacles, Phil continued to suffer episodes of 'Hypergraphia', the only positivity about this was that it hadn't yet turned into aphasia or something worse and it wasn't a regular feature, sometimes once a week sometimes thrice but during that time he had Melinda beside him to help him manage it. She really didn't do much, she couldn't because it was out of her control though he knew if she could then she would've gone to any possible extremities to help him with it but she was their with him and for that he was glad. 

He had a lot of people to thank for SHIELD's 'recovery'. Those who topped the list were May and Tony. Tony was the first avenger to know that he was alive. It's not that he was very excited to tell Stark but there wasn't any other option because Tony was one guy who could really help him out if needed, but he was glad he could finally come out as alive in front of his friends, they promised to let this continue to be a secret if he wished and that the world would know that Phil Coulson wasn't dead anymore only when he wanted to tell. The others Avengers were soon told after Tony, Phil at first was a bit nervous to let them know he was live but he was glad he did as they welcomed Phil very happily back into their lives, to be frank Thor had been the happiest because he could escape the guilt he had after seeing his brother killing Phil and Phil was the happiest to see Captain. He even got Phil a signed mint conditioned Captain America cards collection as a gift. Phil remembered how he babbled about that moment and told May that he was really happy at least a hundred times and she patiently listened to him do so.  
Natasha and Barton were a bit angry at first, but they understood and decide that it was better to reserve their anger for Fury the next time they met him and Banner gracefully offered to help with Fitz's recovery in every way he could for which Phil would be indebted to him for life. The Avengers soon dispersed after meeting Phil and promised they would be here when the need arises.

Sitting is the bus thinking about the way they started from scratch rather even worse but now things were getting better and even though he was in a bad mood that day the thoughts of their journey till now and the improvement they had shown brought a smile on his face. He was the Director of SHIELD now. A dream he hoped to achieve some day though not in this way but still it was a dream come true for him.

"You're thinking ..."  
He looked above to see May staring at him with a coffee mug in her hand but he knew it contained tea. She never drank coffee, he knew her well. He saw that this journey did take a toll on her, she was with him throughout as his biggest support but he felt she had been affected the most, post Hydra incident. He could see the dark circles under her eyes, eyes that weren't as bright as they used to be pre Bahrain, post which they almost lost their glow but with the recent events the little brightness that was left was vanishing too and it hurt him, really bad. 

"Helloooo" she snapped her fingers in front of his eyes to divert from his non stop rail of thoughts.  
"Hey" was all he managed to say and then give his trademark grin, he knew that this made her feel good, even though she never said it but he just knew.  
She returned his smile with a faint one of her own and took a seat beside him. 

"Hey.." She replied after sitting beside him silently for a minute. They never had to talk much, words were never required for their conversation. Silence was the best form of communication between them. Even Phil Coulson, the guy who was kinda known for his chitter chatter would enjoy silence in her company. 

"So ... Wanna talk about it ?" She asked him and looked at him taking a sip from her mug.  
He knew she would've understood he was not himself today, why wouldn't she ? She knew every single thing about him, she understood him so well because he meant 'a lot' to her, that's what she had said during that time when he lost his trust in her in just one second and even showed his anger by shooting her with an ICER and telling her to find somewhere else to be and to stop giving the excuse that she cared for him. Still she came back for him because she cared about him "a lot" . He felt guilty, he felt he was somewhat the reason behind her new condition, she seemed so tired, he could see it in her eyes. 

During his struggle to rebuild SHIELD, she stayed with him throughout, day and night, if he ever felt like having dinner in his office while doing work, she was there to make sure he ate while she did the paperwork for him, during his Hypergraphia episodes she would stay awake the whole night while he would be asleep, exhausted after scratching weird symbols on the wall they had assigned for this very purpose in their office. She would make him stop, gently remove the knife from his hand,take him to his bunk and make him lie down and sit beside him keeping a watch throughout the night. He could tell she was awake for a major part of the whole night keeping a watch on him because the calmness and the fluidity in her movements she had during her Tai Chi routine early each morning, wouldn't be there after such a night. 

He knew she was waiting for a response and that he was staring at her and that she was patiently waiting for him to respond. He trusts this woman with his life, she was his BEST FRIEND so he could tell her, anything. 

He finally spoke "how did you realise I was thinking something ?"  
She gave him a small smile "You know I can read you like a book. Your eyes convey that you're deep in thought and you never keep this quiet, so I guessed something is bothering you." She still had that faint smile, it was almost like she had a smile reserved just for him because she used it so rarely and just when she wanted to show him that she was with him to support him.

"Thank you" he said not knowing why but that it just came out automatically and because somewhere deep in his heart he felt he needed her to listen him say it.

She was surprised at this for a second but then asked him anyways "Why ?"  
"Just like that .. Felt like saying it" was his response. 

She decided not to ask him any further and smiled back.  
"So ? Want to talk about what's bothering you now?" 

"Let's go to my office" he replied faintly and then he got up to walk out of the bus into the office he had in the Playground. It wasn't as lovely as the one on the bus and he missed the latter but it wasn't that bad. Koenig had worked on making it as good as an office the Director should have.


	2. Nightmare and a Best Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil confides in May about what has him worried, and she decides to take matters into her own hands. 
> 
> The characters might seem slightly OOC in this story because like I said quite a bit is different from what's actually happening in the show right now. I just crossed 15K Mark for NaNoWriMo.. Don't think I can complete it on time, but will continue to post the story for you till it's over :)

He entered his office and signalled her to shut the door. She did as asked.  
He took a seat on a couch and patted on it to tell her to join him and she did that too.  
He wondered why did she follow everything he told her to do, so blindly without asking any questions. He could see the doubt in her eyes , the worry they carried for him and he knew that she was wondering if everything was ok but also that she wouldn't ask him, rather like always she would wait for him to tell her. 

Once she joined him on the couch, she looked at him. He looked into her eyes which contained an emotion he had grown familiar with ever since his path to enlightenment (if Garrett's words were to be believed) had begun, confusion and worry. 

They sat quietly for minutes that felt like hours and then finally he spoke. 

"I don't know why May but I have this weird feeling today, since morning"  
The worry in her eyes transformed into another emotion he had grown familiar to, concern. She slowly raised her hand and rest it on his shoulder, holding it and looking him straight in the eyes waiting for him to speak further.  
"You know that I have these nightmares at times, mostly they are about TAHITI,that surgery of mine and at times even Loki, but in the recent times they have reduced, well not so much but still better, but yesterday it was different. " 

The grip on his shoulder tightened. He knew she was worrying on whether he was talking about something that was indicated on the TAHITI project video and the tension in her was building up. 

"It's not what you think" he said to atleast assure her there was still time before he went bonkers, the grip on his shoulder loosened up a little and if he didn't know her this well then he would've definitely missed the silent breath of relief that she took. 

"What is it then ?" She asked him. 

He looked at her again and she released his shoulder to take hold of his hand and entwined her fingers with his. He knew this was her way of telling him that she was here with him, listening to him, understanding him. He knew her so well that at times even he found it tough to believe.

"Portland" was all that he could say and she understood. He knew she would. He understood her really well but not as well as she understood him.  
She retracted her fingers from his hold and rested her left palm on his knee and looked into his eyes waiting for him to speak further. When he doesn't reply she finally decides to ask ..

"Is she ok ?"

"Huh ?" he asks looking at her with a blank expression .. 

"Audrey ? In your dream .. Did something happen to her ?" She replied with a question.

"Yes" he said nodding his head and with an extremely worried expression.

She hated to see him worried, she hated to see him hurt. She was worried that this might cause him mental stress and might trigger a Hypergraphia episode. The last time it happened, she was there with him then and he was so tired and sad after that for almost a week. She had to protect him in the best way she could and that was by trying to cheer him up. 

"Look at me Phil" she said. He did as told. The look in his eyes broke her heart. She was sure that it must've been a real bad one if it had affected him so much. He really loved this woman Audrey and she wanted to help him as much as she could. 

She cupped his cheek and slowly moved her thumb over his cheek bone. 

"It is a dream Phil. A bad one, yes! But still just a dream. Audrey is fine, nothing happened to her. She is a very strong woman I know. She should be fine" 

He didn't look convinced. She continued "You have to trust me on this Phil. Nightmares like this are meant to worry you. Make you give up but you have to fight them." 

"I know May. It's just that it all seemed so real. Like T.A.H.I.T.I" he could see the expression on her face change from concern to tension.  
I saw that Audrey was in the bus with us. She was injured. And then next thing I see Jemma,Skye,Trip,Me; we were rushing to the med bay in the Playground. She was bleeding real bad on the stretcher. I didn't even have the guts to see her face because all I could see was blood. But I held her hand and it felt so real May. It felt like I was losing the one person I love the most in the world. I got scared and woke up." He said without taking a breath and his eyes looked almost as if it lost its shine and all hope. This really concerned May.  
She couldn't see him like this. She refused to see him give up hope. She would do anything to make him feel better. Anything. Even if it meant ....

"I'm gonna go to Portland" she said taking a single breath. 

He looked up at her astonished. His mouth open a little with confusion in his eyes. 

"You have this fear Phil that something might harm her because she's associated with you and quite frankly it's quite obvious to feel so. When we love someone more than anything we start to worry and think more about them than ourselves, so the fear of losing them or something bad happening to them sets in and we want to protect them at any cost." She said this looking straight into his eyes. 

"You're my best friend Phil and I need to make sure you're ok. You're also the Director of SHIELD now and we need you to be yourself. So I will go to Portland. I have met Audrey before though I'm not sure she remembers me. I will check on her personally and confirm that she is safe and sound and if needed, be there to help her out."  
She smiled at him while holding his hand tightly in hers,fingers entwined.

"You'd really do that for me May ?" Phil asked, he knew it was a stupid question to ask because May would do anything for him. Anything.

"Of course" she replied with a smile. "And the team anyways deserves an outing" she had a smirk on her face. "Now I need you to get some rest. I'll handle the team for now. Get some sleep and once you wake up I'll let you know our course of action. " 

She got up to leave ..

"May wait .." 

She turned around to look at him 

"Thank you" he said. 

"You don't have to thank me Phil. Ever ! If I can do anything that would make you feel better, I would do it without a second thought. Now stop worrying and sleep" she left after saying this and Phil decided to follow her orders.  
He was so grateful he had someone like May in his life. Someone who he could trust so blindly. Someone who would be there for him in his best and worst times. He felt that he was blessed to have a person like Melinda May as his best friend and now she had told him to get some sleep and he would because no one refuses May's orders. He got up to go into his bunk on the bus and take some rest, he felt nice when he was on the bus, it seemed homely especially during a time when he wanted to be home.


	3. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Portland here we come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, things in this might be a bit different from what they are currently in season 2 and yes I don't own or not even associated in any ways with AoS and Marvel Universe apart from as a fan :)

The sunlight shone brightly through the window making him wake up from a deep slumber. He felt better after speaking with May. He was still worried about the nightmare but was sure that everything would be ok if May said so and moreover she said she'd go meet Audrey to confirm that all he thought was just an act by his mind which had been really enjoying playing games with him in recent times.

He got up from his bed, looked at the clock and realised it was almost 3PM. "Wow, that was a deep sleep" he murmured to himself realised he almost slept for more than half a day and wore his suit coat and left to go check on others but a thought struck him halting him in the process.  
‘Wait a minute ! Sunlight ? In the bus ? Parked inside the Playground ? How on earth is that possible ? Was he hallucinating ? Is this maybe another dream ?’ he wondered. He managed to guess quite a bit the reason behind this and to confirm his thoughts he left his bunker, and came downstairs to find everyone sitting at the dining table chatting. . 

"Good Afternoon AC" Skye said with a grin “Wondering what we’re doing in the air ?” She asked.  
“Umm .. more like was I so deep asleep that I didn’t realise us taking of ?”  
“Sir that’s because May activated automatic secure belt on your bunk bed to make sure you didn’t fall off while we were taking of” Trip answered and Skye,Jemma and Fitz kind of giggled. As soon as he had met the team downstairs he had noticed May wasn't there. His eyes searched for her immediately. That's what they mostly did these days. He needed to reassure himself that she was there with him all the time. Her presence gave him a sort of calmness and satisfaction. 

"Where's May ?" He immediately asked.

"Well we're in the Bus, so I think you can guess where she would be ..." Skye responded.

"The Cockpit" he said to himself, obviously since Trip was here and May wasn’t here or in his office she would be in the cockpit. She had once told him that she loved the solitude, the cockpit provided. One would think May in general liked to prefer being alone, she was always to herself and never really interacted much, but she rarely was, he knew how her mind was always occupied with something or the other, memories she wanted to forget, fears she wanted to conquer, but never could and now after everything that had happened,there were new additions to the thoughts that would fill up her mind with struggle every single moment. The May who seemed calm,composed and strong on the outside, fought a battle every single day with haunting memories of days gone by that would continue to try and make her breakdown, but she never would. 

"Trip, please go and wake up Director Coulson, and buckle up guys, we'll be landing in 10 minutes" May's voice announced bringing him out of his thoughts.

'She obviously doesn't know I'm awake' he thought to himself chuckling when Trip said "You heard the lady sir. Better buckle up" Phil nodded with a smile and joined everyone who were set to land. Fitz needed a bit help since he was still using a wheelchair to move around and Jemma helped him out.

He looked at Skye,Jemma,Fitz and Trip. He had a lovely team indeed. They were always there for one another. He could see the happiness on their faces. Travelling on the bus after such a long time definitely was a thrilling experience for them. He had missed the fun they had today but he really needed to finish his sleep. He thought to himself that he would definitely participate actively with them in their chitter chatter like the old days during their return journey. 

"Sir it's a really good idea" He heard Jemma speak. He looked up at her confused.  
She continued "To meet Audrey sir. She does deserve to know that you're alive."  
Fitz joined in "but I don't think you should meet her sir." He murmured quietly seeing unsure of whether he should say it.

Skye and Simmons looked at him with a shocked expression. "I mean she must've moved on. It takes a lot of guts to do that. To forget someone we have loved and move on. It'll be harsh on her sir if you suddenly came back and confronted her." 

"I believe it's been long enough Monkey" Skye joined the conversation. None of them realising that Phil was there as well, were busy discussing him. "She deserves to know he is alive and AC deserves to meet her once too. It'll be tough on her but it'll be a good chance to clear all the issues, to get a proper closure." 

Phil realised that all of them were right in a way, he didn't deserve to meet Audrey especially after the torture he put her through,all that she must've gone through when she heard he had died but at the same time she deserved to know that Phil was alive. If she hadn't moved on from him, he couldn't bear her going through an emotional torture which wasn't needed after all. 

Maria had told him how much his death had really affected everyone and if his friends had been affected so deeply,the person with whom he had been in a relationship would've been destroyed. The last time he had seen her she had just started to move on but then she had almost seen him and even though she thought he was a hallucination she still had felt he was actually there, this actually worried him wondering whether it pushed her back to grief. 

"We're about to land. Hope everyone's set" May's voice broke his rail of thought. He felt calm once he heard her. Her voice always managed to bring him back and make him feel reassured that everything would be fine. 

"I'm not going to meet her" he said rather almost whispered but the team heard.  
"What ?" They said in unison. "Then why are we going to Portland all of a sudden ?" Skye asked. 

He knew he had to explain to these kids which were like his family now, and his family would understand.

"I ... I had a nightmare yesterday."  
"Sir are you fine ?" Trip asked.  
"Yes I am now." He looked up with a faint smile and continued "I had a nightmare in which I saw Audrey on the bus with us. It was followed by us running to the Med bay and blood all over. I was whispering and pleading to her not to die." He said almost choking on his words but handling himself again. 

The team stared at him worried. He added on "I spoke to May about it in the morning and she said that she would go and meet Audrey on my behalf to check if she was fine." "She'd reassure me that everything is ok. I didn't know she had already planned the trip. I was so exhausted I slept all the way through. Maybe she felt you guys needed a change of scene too so brought you all as well" he almost murmured to himself.  
He looked to meet everyone's eyes. They carried an emotion of sympathy. Whether it was because he couldn't meet Audrey or because he had a nightmare was unknown. He saw Fitz who seemed To think something else though.

"Sir you're gonna make May meet Audrey to check whether she's fine ?" Fitz asked.  
"Yes" Phil responded.  
"Not sure if it's a good idea sir" he replied.

Phil looked at him with confusion and asked "Why do you think that Fitz ? "

Fitz replied "sir because May is ... " he trailed off unsure how to continue. 

But Phil felt he knew what he would continue to say and that made him angry "Is it because you still think May is a cold person ? Because if that's the case I'd like to contradict saying that she would be one of the least cold persons I've ever known Fitz. What she is doing for me, is a really big thing. What she has done for all of us is nothing less. Only someone with warmth and love in their heart would do"

"That's exactly why I said sir. Sorry if it offended you but May is not a cold person at all sir. She has emotions like us all and seems you've failed to realise that sir but since I've been training with her for quite a while I've realised she really cares about .." Before he could complete, the landing had taken place and May came out of the cockpit. 

Phil unstrapped forgetting that he was yet to hear what Fitz was going to say and walked over to her. 

Jemma and Skye looked at Fitz kind of surprised almost confused about what he meant.  
"It wasn't very nice of you Fitz to argue with the director like that." Jemma said.  
"Yeah and what's this with you going on about May?" Skye added  
"That day when I was in the hub that day stuck with May,Coulson and Garret, I realised something" he said without any confusion. "Coulson hasn't realised it yet. I hope he does before it's too late. I almost lost Jemma by the time I told her" he said with a sad smile and left to join Trip who was getting all the stuff they would need ready. 

"Is he ok ??" Skye asked staring at him leave. "I think so" was the confused reply from Jemma. 

May and Phil moved on to a more private place to discuss further.

"When you said you'd meet Audrey I thought you were still planning on what to do. I didn't know you'd actually take off with the bus May" Phil said 

"When you already know what is to be done, I didn't see any reason in delaying it Phil. Whatever this is, it was causing you a lot of tension and I was worried that.." She kinda paused

"That I might have another episode of Hypergraphia or any of the new symptoms" Phil tried to complete her sentence.

"No" a crisp reply from May and that caused Phil to look directly into her eyes.

"I was worried that it would hurt you every single time you'd think about it and seeing you hurt is the last thing I want to do Phil" she replied with a comforting smile and continued "I found no use in delaying unnecessarily, so I decided to make the decision" 

Phil smiled. He didn't need to admit that even if he was the director of the new SHIELD he always needed May's help in decision making because when she did,it made him feel right always. 

"And anyways the team needed a change of scene too" she added with that rare tiny smile. Phil responded with a smile of his own,though something struck him. The rare smile of May, that had grown even rarer in the recent times didn't seem like it. It used to be dull but it still had something in it that made him feel good. But that tiny spark that was left had also vanished in this one. It was almost a robotic smile. 

"Now let me debrief the team about what is to be done. This is my mission Phil" she said with a kind of authority that Phil felt suited her persona perfectly. He always felt that if she hadn't semi retired after Bahrain, maybe she'd have been the director and not him. That was how good she was at almost everything. 

Phil nodded and continued to walk with her to the team. 

"Ok everyone gather around, May needs to tell you all about the plan." Phil announced.  
May stood with Phil beside her on one side of the table and the team gathered around on the opposite side. Fitz left his wheelchair and using his crutches stood beside May which kind of confused Jemma and Skye but they kept quiet for the moment. 

"So what's the plan May ? You're gonna go to Audrey and say 'Hey Audrey I'm Phil's old friend ! How are you now ? " Skye asked her. 

"Kind of" May said and continued. "I have met Audrey once before though I'm not sure she'd recognise me." "I plan to go and check out on whether she's ok. And once I feel assured I'll return" 

"I'd say take Skye with you May" Coulson added. 

May and Skye both looked at him surprised. 

"I know what I saw was a nightmare but in case if everything isn't alright it's ok to have backup." I'd ask you to take Trip but the last time she met him it wasn't really a pleasant situation. And she doesn't know Skye so maybe she'd be useful" Coulson added. 

"Okay" May replied "Skye get your stuff ready we're going for a ride." Skye nodded her and left to get her stuff. May turned to look at Phil "It's going to be fine Phil. Believe me. I'm gonna make sure that Audrey is absolutely safe and sound" she smiled for him. The genuine one and that made Phil feel relaxed. 

"I know May and Tha.." 

"Don't" she stopped him halfway through his sentence. "Like I said, you're my best friend and friends would do anything for the other"  
He felt reassured. Things would definitely be fine as long as they had May. 

They both didn't notice that all this while there was someone staring at them. Fitz couldn't help but worry for May in a way only he seemed to understand. Jemma noticed it but couldn't decipher his expressions. "Everything fine Fitz ?" She asked. 

"Coulson doesn't understand .. " he replies  
"Understand what Fitz ?"  
"That May is doing all this FOR him" he replied stressing on 'for'

"Are you ok Fitz ? You've been behaving a bit weird since the afternoon.  
"It's tough to explain Jemma" he said with a tiny smile.

_______________________________

Skye came downstairs with a small duffle bag. Fitz walked over to her, still on the support of crutches to hand her an ICER to keep it in the bag. He'd used the wheelchair more frequently but May was his Physical Therapist and she always believed that struggle and hard work are the path to success. She had made sure that he recovered perfectly and so had asked him to use the wheelchair as less as possible. 

May noticed Skye coming and asked "all set Skye ?"   
"Yup, let's go meet this Audrey person" Skye replied with a smile and added "and anyways to get a chance to go into the bright sunlight and enjoy the weather is a big gift" 

Phil said "Take care Skye and you too May"   
May turned to him with a slight surprise "You know you don't .."

"I know May you can take care of yourself but you haven't been doing that much lately, seems I'm taking up most of your time" Phil responds 

"Phil" May says in a rather warning style.

"Ok sorry" he responded with that goofy smile that managed to warm her heart all the time. 

"Ok guys I guess we should leave, let's get this over with so that we can take the rest of the day off and enjoy" Skye interfered them. 

"Bye May, don't worry I'll take care of the team till you're back" Phil added jokingly. He had realised that even though May was a reserved person, she had a place for the team in her heart. That she saw the team as a family and cared for them especially Fitz. The kid has grown close to May and she took the responsibility of bringing him back to normal very seriously. 

Phil saw May walk over to Fitz and telling him not to stress himself much and to take care. There were moments where she would let down the wall she built around herself and would express her emotions. She had bonded a form of friendship with Fitz and the kid trusted her blindly. He thought over the words Fitz was saying "she's not cold sir, maybe you haven't realised yet but she really cares about .." 

He wondered what Fitz wanted to say, he could ask him but decided to let it be. As per what he found out 'Fitz didn't want May to meet Audrey, not because she was cold hearted but because she wasn't" that confused him. He for a second doubted his wish to send May over to meet Audrey. He felt that he had already burdened May with so much. She had dedicated herself completely to the team and to his well being, adding extra stress on her would be wrong but then she was May. The person who would always put the team's especially his well being before hers.   
He felt that once May would be back he would give her a leave for a whole day and tell her to relax. 

He was completely lost in these thoughts and by the time he snapped back to reality May and Skye had left. 

The weather in Portland was much better than where the Playground had been situated. May was keeping her whole concentration on the road ahead. She had a task to accomplish and she would do that. It hurt her to see Phil suffer. She was there with him when he went through an episode of Hypergraphia. She never looked directly into his eyes for a few minutes once he was out of the trance. She did once and the look he had in them continues to haunt her. It was almost as if he wasn’t Phil in those moments, as if he was someone else, a robot, but then maybe even a robot would have more life in it than Phil had in him once he took up that knife and started carving into the walls. His eyes seemed hollow, while his brain seemed to have been filled with a huge load of information, the information depicted in the form of circles and lines, symbols that seemed to carry so much of importance to him when he had the knife in his hand, but once he was out of the trance, he couldn’t understand the meaning of.


	4. Lola,Coulson and Captain America - Nostalgia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Skye get's excited to know more about May and Coulson, May tells her about Lola and Captain America.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was meant for Nanowrimo :) It's a short chapter but hope you like it.
> 
> PS : I don't own Marvel or AoS, just a crazy fan :)

“We should’ve taken Lola” May heard Skye say and glanced sideways to find the girl staring at her.

May rolled her eyes and gave Skye a knowing smirk.

“I mean c’mon May, it’s understandable that Coulson won’t let ‘us’ touch the Lola, but he won’t say no to you” . May could hear the teasing in Skye’s voice. May believed she was good at reading people,or so she thought until she let Ward in, if only she hadn’t let down her guard in front of him, if only she hadn’t allowed him to give her company in sharing the darkness that was there deep buried inside them in the form of haunting memories, maybe she would’ve caught Ward's betrayal easily, but she did and she really hated herself for that, she was training with him, sparring with him, Hell! she was sleeping with him but he managed to fool her, the truth now was that he was behind bars and he wasn’t going to harm her team, she would make sure of that.

Her mind wandered back to Skye again. Ever since she had taken the girl under her wing and started training her, she realised that a bond had formed between them. She had grown to be extremely protective of the girl. Skye would always be Coulson’s ‘kid’ no doubt, but she liked how the girl used to give her best in every task that she was asked to do. She never gave up easily, and her nature reminded May of herself pre Bahrain.

She realised she was lost deep in thought when she heard Skye snapping her fingers in front of her eyes.

“Umm May! , you’re ok ? because you don’t seem so, if you want I can drive in case you need a break” Skye said.

“I’m fine Skye, just got distracted for a bit” May looked back to the front of the road. There was still some time before they’d reach the main city, but as of now, the roads were empty and beautiful scenery surrounded the road they were driving through.

“Well we could take Lola, but it’s still in damaged condition if you still remember what happened the last time you and Coulson were in it and we’re meeting Audrey so that’d been a problem”

May wondered why she abruptly felt the need to continue talking with Skye. It’s not that she was looking for a conversation, because she never really enjoyed talking much and to add to that she was giving a chance to Skye who had managed to remain silent, to speak again. Then she realised maybe it was because Lola belonged to Coulson. Talking about it made her feel safe and secure. They weren’t in any form of danger right now, but talking about Coulson or stuff related to Coulson made her feel calm, just the way Coulson did by his mere presence. Coulson loved his Lola. She was the first one to get a ride in it when Coulson got it. The smile and the excitement he had carried on his face that day, has been imprinted onto her mind and she could recite every second of that moment like a poem.

“So Audrey knows about Lola ?” Skye’s voice was filled with curiosity, another thing May loved about this girl, she was always curious, waiting to learn about new things. “mmhmm” May mumbled, nodding her head.

“and …. does she know that ..” Skye trailed off and May knew what she wanted to ask, “I don’t think so” May replied and before Skye could ask more she continued “ Audrey knew Coulson was from SHIELD and that it’s an organisation who protect those in trouble but Lola is almost like a secret, not many know it flies”

“You’ve ever flown her ?” Skye was now excited to know more about Lola, May realised, even though she wasn’t really in the mood of chatting, she didn’t mind talking about Lola or Phil. She wondered what Phil must be doing right now ? She remembered how tensed he was about that dream he had, it hurt her to see him sad. When he started having Hypergraphia episodes, she assured him that everything would be fine even though she knew it wouldn’t but she needed to be the strong one in the equation, so she assured him that things would be ok even though she realised that he knew that she didn’t really have anything to support her statement.

She could go on thinking about Phil, but right now they had a mission, she had a mission, one that assured that it would make him happy in case it was successful. So instead of letting her mind struggle with worrying about Phil she decided to think of better things.

“I did, a few times” she told Skye. Noticing the grin on Skye’s face she decided to continue. It anyways would take them around an hour to reach their destination, and she wouldn’t admit it but she did enjoy Skye’s company. “You want to know more about Lola ?” she asked Skye. Realising that May was actually offering to tell her stories from Coulson and her past, Skye decided she was no way going to let the opportunity go. “You want to tell me?” Skye stressed on ‘want’ to make sure that May wasn’t being forced to speak about it.

“Sure” May gave Skye a small smile, a rare one, one that Skye had noticed May giving to only Coulson. She always wanted to know more about the past of these two people who were almost like Parent figures in her life.

May focused her sight front ahead. Even though she was looking at the road ahead, she could see herself travelling back by many many years. Years that shaped her into what she was now, ‘The Cavalry’. Years that were filled with tons of memories ranging from her first day at the academy, to the moment when Phil had told her about this ‘dream’ of his. So much had changed she realised, She went on from becoming an amateur agent in this organisation to one of their best, to becoming ‘The Cavalry’ and now, Phil’s second in command. She remembered when they used to joke during their days at the academy that one day they would be together at the top of the agency,as partners and here they were years later, at the top of the agency, still a team, just that everything around them had changed. They were shadows. Hiding in the dark, waiting for chances to come out, to protect, to fight for what was right, even if it meant that they had to go back into hiding and become ghosts once that was done.

“Lola was designed by Howard Stark, Tony’s dad”  May somewhat stated the obvious. “Yeah I know ! Stark told methat” Skye replied. May waited for 2 seconds before continuing “It was soon after the first time Coulson worked with Tony, I was working a late night shift to prepare the documents for some meeting Fury had the next day, when he called”.

“Were you …?” Skye let her question trail off.

“Yes, I was working in the administration then” May replied to the point.

“So ..?” Skye glanced at May waiting for her to continue. She noticed the expression on May’s face had changed somewhat, May had turned much more silent in the recent time after everything that happened with Hydra. Skye had noticed that May spent most of her time with Coulson once they had started rebuilding SHIELD. Yes she was training her and Skye considered that a blessing because nothing could ever be more awesome than being trained by ‘The’ Melinda May, but atleast she used to join them atleast once every few days for lunch and used to make small talk when they were in the bus, but nowadays that was rare as well, apart from morning training sessions,mission discussions,debriefing, she never interacted with them much. She realised May never had any free time, she spent most of her time helping Skye,Coulson and Fitz. She realised what a great person in front of her was. You don't need super powers to be a super hero ! She couldn't believe how much this woman gave of herself to those she cared for. She realised that the team had always taken advantage of that and never really thanked her for what she was doing for them. She decided once they'd be back home(if the playground can be called home), she was going to do something for May. A small gesture to thank her but right now all she wanted was to know about Lola.

“He called and asked me to join him in the parking lot” May decided to continue to tell Skye the rest of the story. If the girl was silent meant she was deep in thoughts and that wasn't really a great idea. “Said he had a small surprise for me” Skye noticed a small smile forming on May’s face, she always had a smile when she talked about Coulson.

Both of them had so much history with them, so many years of friendship and partnership, Skye admired their relationship, if anyone is life is lucky to have a friendship like that of May and Coulson, they are really blessed. She thought of Fitz' words "Coulson hasn't realised it yet. I hope he does before it's too late. I almost lost Jemma by the time I realised". Why did he say that ? Coulson and May's friendship was now stronger than ever, atleast in the time she had known them, then what did Fitz mean.

May had grown really fond of Fitz. She used to let her guard down and smile more and seemed to talk more when she was with him. The rest of the team felt because it helped Fitz in his recovery if he spoke with someone more, and he practically idolised May.

Did she say something to him during their conversations ? Does Fitz know something none of us didn't ?

"Skye ... You ok ? ... Skye!" May's ordered her to come out of her rail of thoughts.

"Huh ?" Skye asked.

"You were looking blank,everything all right ? You want me to pull up , take a break ?" May asked, concerned lacing her voice.

"Oh No! Sorry sorry .. I was just thinking about something, and that was followed by something else, you know how I can be" Skye replied with a sheepish grin on her face.

May shook her head and said "I sure do".

"So what happened then ? Did you go and meet AC when he called ?" Skye started their old conversation again.

"Of course I did. You don't know Phil, if I had refused saying I had work, he would actually wait outside till I would be free so he could reveal his surprise. He's always been like a kid at such things" May chuckled.

"Seriously?" Skye asked, mouth wide open and eyes shocked at what May had just told her and that Melinda May was actually chuckling.

"Very much, there was this one incident soon after he had met Captain America, well more like he saw Captain America when they found him, and he'd called to tell me that but I was in a meeting so couldn't answer, and after 3 hours I come out of the room, only to find out that he'd been waiting there for almost an hour, just to tell me that"

Melinda had a huge smile on her face remembering the incident, which didn't go unnoticed by Skye. This was maybe the first time she had seen such a huge smile on Melinda May's face, especially in the recent few days and that felt so good. Skye felt she needed to continue this talk with May, because it actually gave her a chance to relax, especially when they were now going to meet Audrey, the woman Director Coulson was in love with, Skye wondered how it would affect May because Coulson interacted on a much personal level with May only, and the same was with May. It was as if they were inseparable. Whenever Coulson felt tired or distressed, even before he could say, May would be there with him. She had seen during her training with May that Coulson would keep a cup of tea ready for her once she was back, and they would just sit on the couch silently with no words spoken yet a smile of contentment on their faces. No doubt the team called them mom and dad casually, because if one would meet them for the first time, they would think they were a couple married for years.

"Wow I knew AC was a fan girl about Cap. But didn't know this". Skye said. "Oh Coulson has always been crazy for Captain America." May replied almost immediately. "Yeah ?" Skye asked laughing. She was happy that May was opening up to her.

"Totally! The first time I met him, I knew that very moment he was crazy about Captain." May replied. She wouldn't admit it openly but she was really enjoying talking about old days with Skye. The girl knew nothing about her past, nothing about her being 'The Cavalry', her knowledge about May as such was a clean slate, so it felt nice to share some memories which made her happy, with her.

"How did you guys meet anyway ?" Skye asked. She was extremely curious to know more about May and Coulson and she didn't hesitate even for a second from asking.

"My first day at the Academy, he joined a few months earlier than me." She caught a quick glance at Skye and realised she had the girl's full attention, so continued "I was looking for the lecture hall, when I collided into Coulson."

"How did he look like ? Did he wear a suit even then ?" Skye asked with excitement and the question actually surprised May. He only wore Suits nowadays, no wonder the team thought that's his only attire.

"Of course he didn't ! He was your usual dork" May said with nonchalance. "He wore a White t-shirt with a huge Captain America Shield on it, and blue jeans"

"Huh ! It's tough to imagine AC dressed casually" Skye said with an expression as of she had recently made a huge discovery.

"Time changes everything Skye, we grew up" May looked at her and gave her a small smile. Yes time had changed so much, she realised the impact time had made on them especially now when she thought of the old days. She wasn't that new comer anymore, he wasn't that dorky kid anymore. The future and fate of SHIELD now rested upon their shoulders. Those 2 kids who met by accident that day were now in charge of rebuilding the organisation that had brought them together.

"So that's how you realised AC was a Captain America fan" Skye said nodding her head.

"Yeah that was his favourite tshirt. He wore it to almost every casual meet, you should've seen his dorm room, it had Captain's posters and a whole shelf of comics and collectibles" May replied.

"Been way too many times to his room ain ?" Skye asked tauntingly.

"We were best friends" May replied crisply. That was the truth was after all right ? Since that first meet in the hallway, they had been together. They were teamed up as partners, and were even each other's dates for their graduation ball. Melinda was asked by many to accompany her, but she was never interested much in dancing, she'd rather enjoy her time chatting and drinking with Coulson. Their first mission together in Sausalito, till their last mission before she joined the bus, in Bahrain, he was with her through it all. Even when she found herself shattering to pieces after Bahrain, Phil managed to hold her together with his compassion and care. She could never forget what he had done for her, whatever she was doing now for Phil, of one would think that was a lot, they should've been there during that time when the only thing that held her together from giving  completely was Phil Coulson.

She owed her life to him. She could kill for Coulson and die if needed, and she wouldn't hesitate even for a second before doing so. That's how strong their friendship was. It stood through Bahrain,New York, Hydra and it would even through this new problem he was facing and she was going to make sure of that. She would be with him throughout no matter what.

Skye realised the smile on May's face had vanished, she was enjoying the fun version of May, and she anyways knew she was back to worrying about everything. So she decided to divert her mind again. They were anyway almost there, just around 15 more minutes or so.

"You didn't finish the story" Skye said.

"I did ! That was exactly how we had first met." May replied confused by Skye's statement.

"Oh no! Not that the Lola story"

"Aah that one" May replied. They had almost reach their destination and the drive that had seemed a long one before they had started, before even she realised was almost coming to an end, Skye was good company, she was very much like Phil in many ways.

"I went to the Parking lot, 10 minutes after his call, thought he'd called before leaving Stark's place so it would take him around 10 minutes to reach my office."

"I realised that he had already been there waiting for me since 7 minutes, to be exact" Yes! Phil had mentioned exactly how long he'd been waiting for her, 7 minutes, 24 seconds to be precise. It was basically his way of showing how fast, the Red Corvette that stood behind was.

"He was standing there waiting for me to ask about the car, that was another habit of Phil, he would wait for you to ask first so he could answer" May snorted shaking her head. "I asked him when he bought this one, and he said it was a gift from Tony, he asked me to join him for a ride, I did as he asked, and 2 minutes later, I realise the car can actually fly and within a matter of minutes we were already halfway through New York"

"Wow ! That's so fun ! What did you guys do then ?" Skye asked excitedly.

"Oh nothing much ! We took turn to fly Lola over New York. From the HQ to Liberty, he flew and then I flew the way back" May replied. "We could've had more fun, but I had to be back early next day for some work, so.." May trailed off.

"Wow that's awesome" Skye replied. Even though was they did wasn't really 'fun' in Skye's opinion because C'mon ! Who just goes from one point to another and back home in a flying car, if she'd been there instead she'd taken it on round for atleast half a day, but then Skye noticed the smile on May's face as she remembered that moment. She was deep into Nostalgia, memories that they had built over time, memories of her and Coulson, she realised Coulson was the only person who could make May smile the brightest if needed and even totally break her down. She had seen them rebuilding their relationship after the truth about her knowing of TAHITI came into light. It took them time but they finally seemed to have moved past it. Coulson was the most important person in May's life. She had finally decoded what Fitz had to say. He understood, what she understands now, Melinda May was in love with Coulson. It wasn't something that had just happened, it was always there, buried so deep that maybe May herself didn't know or didn't want to acknowledge but that was the truth and Skye knew that now. Their love had taken a form of dedication, commitment to each other. Having each others' back and protecting them was how they showed they loved each other. Mom and Dad were in love but both didn't realise that, atleast dad definitely didn't and mom was just not ready to acknowledge it and now she and May were going to meet Audrey ! The woman who was Coulson's past and very much still might be his present in his mind. This was going to be one awkward meeting. Skye was going to stand by May no matter what.

"We're here" she heard May say and looked up at the tiny cottage like house that was there. They could see a beautiful backyard and a tiny garden with a variety of flowers. The house wasn't very big, but it definitely was beautiful.

 

 


	5. Hello Audrey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May and Skye finally meet Audrey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit sad with what happened in AoS mid season finale ! But I had to post a new chapter, so here goes.

Phil was growing restless with every passing second. May and Skye were on their way to meet Audrey and they should've been there by now but they hadn't reported back, and this was making him a bit nervous. He trusted May, he knew she would make sure everything was fine, she was May after all wasn't she ?  
But they were living under threat every moment. Threat of being caught or worse, being killed by enemies that threatened their existence. They couldn't come out of shadows without risking the chance of never returning back home.

He was worried about Audrey, no doubt, the nightmare he had seemed so real that it was tough to believe it might've been a figment of imagination but then his mind was loosing control of itself, so maybe it was playing a game with him. The GH325, that was flowing in his veins now, provided him life, it brought him back from the clutches of death, only to push him into this mess that his life was now becoming. He couldn't call himself a normal guy anymore, not only because he was now considered dead by the world, and that he was almost like a refuge but also because he couldn't really predict whether he would wake up the next day and not as a mad man. He had seen what had happened to Garrett and the fear that his life would end up the same, really scared him.

Right now at the moment all he could think about was May and Skye. May was very protective about Skye and the team, so she would protect the girl at any cost. Audrey might've actually been safe, to be frank he knew she was safe, it was just in that impulse of moment that had agreed to May's idea of checking up on Audrey for him and now that worried him. If HYDRA or any enemies attacked them, May would only think about how to protect Skye and wouldn't even care about saving herself. What if something happened to May ? The thought itself scared him like no other. He wouldn't back out from saying that he was dependent on May. She was his backbone. If she hadn't been there with him through this journey, especially in the past few months, then he believed he definitely would've crashed. He knew he used to take advantage of her loyalty and friendship to no extent and that he needed to thank her every once in a while for the same, but she was Melinda May, the woman who would give her everything for the people she cared about. All that had taken him was to tell about his nightmare and there she was already on her way to clarify it for him. He was blessed to have someone like Melinda May in his life.

The ring of the landline in his office broke him from his thoughts.  
"May" he said, knowing it would be definitely her.  
"Phil, are your comms down ? I've been trying to contact you for the last 23 minutes" she said.  
Realising that he had forgotten to turn on the comms. He immediately switched it on  
"Back online now" he said with a smile. She knew he was smiling and that made her smile too which didn't go unnoticed by Phil even if they weren't actually unable to see each other right now.

"We're here Phil." She said, now talking over the comms. Time to get to business. She need to make sure everything was fine as soon as possible, so that they could go back. They wouldn't take off to go back to the base tonight, once she and Skye would be back to the bus, the team deserved to relax and take the night off.

"You and Skye doing ok ? I got worried because it took you a bit longer than expected"  
Skye who was also hearing the discussion over the comms. Was surprised to see that the first thing Coulson asked wasn't about Audrey but, wether they were fine or not. He had taken a much stricter persona, but underneath that he was still that sweet, warm hearted guy.

"Yes we did AC" Skye replied to let him know that even she was online.

"May .." Coulson paused for a bit before continuing "did you..." He trailed off.  
Skye was surprised to see when May replied "Not yet Phil, I'm gonna check out in a minute" as if she understood what Coulson was about to say. They completed each other's sentences so perfectly. They understood each other's silence. They didn't need words to communicate. This was something only two people who knew each other better than they understood themselves would have. Skye really wondered if they should meet Audrey because she could understand that these 2 people are made for each other. She had been in some relationships, and was continuously sent from house to house as a foster kid, so she really didn't have an actual idea as to what love felt like. She had seen couples, some very open about their relationship and some a bit more subtle, but these 2 people told her what love looked like. Maybe it was selfish for her to think that they should avoid meeting Audrey, and just go back to the bus and 'mom and dad' should get together, but that's what she felt right now but sadly her feeling wouldn't help, Coulson and May, had to realise that, so she really couldn't do anything.

"There she is" May said, thus bringing an end to Skye's extremely imaginative thought process.  
They had parked their car a bit away from Audrey's house, so that she wouldn't think that she was being stalked. The last time it had happened was when Daniels had attacked her. So they wanted to avoid scaring her off.

Skye looked up to see Audrey coming back from a jog as it seemed. Jemma had described her quite perfectly. She was indeed beautiful, it actually made her think how their dorky director had managed to woo this woman, but then even May was in love him, so that means he was really something.

They waited for a bit to see her open the door, enter inside and switch on the lights.

"She seems fine Phil" May said over the comms. Before Phil could reply she continued "but I, still gonna go closer and take a look for your satisfaction."

"Oh .. Okay May" Phil said.  
They could hear the nervousness in his voice at that moment. May knew what Phil felt about Audrey. She had been his emotional support when May couldn't be there, when May herself was still trying to get back to 'normalcy' and Phil had been happy when he was dating the cellist, she remembered him mentioning about her quite a few times during their phone calls. She made Phil happy and for that reason, May had a lot of respect and gratitude for Audrey.

"Skye I need you to stay back, I'll just go there and catch a glimpse of everything and be back ok ?" May told Skye and all Skye could do was nod.

"May .. Take care" Skye and Phil said together.  
"Phil .. Don't worry she's gonna be fine" May replied.  
"I know .. It's just, the last time we'd met her it weren't really favourable circumstances" Phil replied.  
God he was nervous, May and Skye could make out. If he had a chance he'd be here himself Skye thought. At that moment May made a decision. "Phil .. Keep the comms. On, I'm going to meet her personally, so you could hear her voice." May said.

'Woah!' Is what Skye thought of that suggestion. She could hear her talking to herself in her mind 'seriously May ? I mean that's what you're gonna do ? Are you out of your mind or what ? She's his ex ! All we have to do is make sure she's safe! That's it and then go back so that we can get on working to help you and AC get together but you wanna meet his ex and actually make him hear you talking to her ?'

"Skye close your mouth or a fly would enter" May said rolling her eyes after noticing the girls staring at her dumbly.

Skye immediately shut her mouth. "Umm .. Aaa... sorry May but you sure this is a good idea ?"  
"Yeah May are you sure ?" Phil asked her as well.

"Phil you're nervous, I can hear you being nervous, and I don't think anything can be better than you hearing her by yourself. That's the least I can do for you" May replied.

'damn! This woman' Skye thought to herself 'why does she have to be so good and sacrificing and stuff, she deserves to be selfish for once ! AC please tell her to stop'

"Thanks May" is what Phil replied and all Skye could do was shake her head. Trying to grasp an opportunity to cancel this idea Skye asked "and what if she recognises you ?"

"Well the circumstances we met in were ... " May trailed off before finishing "I don't think she'd remember me" May completed her sentence.

"I'm gonna come with you" Skye said suddenly.

"You're gonna stay right here Skye" May replied sternly.

"No May, please let me come, I might help you out in case there is some danger"

May realised the girl was stubborn and instead having her sneak up silently, it's better to agree.

"Okay Skye, is that fine with you Coulson ?" May asked.

"I would've been surprised if she hadn't asked May" Coulson replied with a chuckle. "Take care" he said.

“I’m gonna keep the comms. on Phil, don’t worry everything will be fine.”

“May .. Thank you” Coulson replied. He felt she needed to be thanked for what she continued to do for him, without questioning him ever.

“Don’t thank me now, I’ll think of a better way you can thank me once I’m back” May responded rolling her eyes.

“Yeah maybe you can take May out for Coffee” Skye interrupted their conversation and got a quite surprising response for the same.

“May hates coffee” “I hate coffee” both of them said this simultaneously and ended up chuckling.

“Ok AC! May .. if not coffee than something else” Skye said pleasantly amused by how in sync both of these people were.

“You know Phil, I wouldn’t mind your handmade White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies with Hot Chocolate” Skye could see the smirk on May’s face when she said that and Phil could actually feel her smirking on the other side of the line. May loved having these cookies. He had first made them ..

“I would definitely love to hear the story behind that AC” Skye’s voice brought a halt to his journey down the memory lane.

“C’mon enough of chit chat, now let’s get back to work, I need to go back home for Fitz practice and I even have some delicious cookies waiting for me” May said with a smirk and Skye nodded.

Skye and May approached the door of the house, Skye could sense the intensity surrounding the whole situation. May could only think about Coulson because the nervousness he had at that moment was something she could feel being this far away from him. This was a big step, she didn’t know what she was right or wrong. All she cared about was that Coulson, at this moment really needed to hear Audrey’s voice. Not only to confirm that she was ok and doing fine but also because Audrey had been his connection with the outside world till now. After his mother’s death, his world was confined to SHIELD. It’s not that he didn’t interact with people or have friends, he did, she was one of them, but all connections he had were confined to SHIELD, so when Audrey came into his life, she acted as a bond between him and the world outside SHIELD. He loved her, she knew that. Though he had never officially introduced Audrey to her, she could see his face light up when he spoke of Audrey. A few days into dating Audrey, Coulson was a very very happy man, he was always a cheerful guy but he began smiling a lot more since Audrey had entered his life and so she was glad that he had Audrey in his life. They paused in front of the door, ready to knock. This was the right decision, May was sure about it.

Slowly lifting her hand, she knocked on the door gently, when no reply came from the other side she knocked again. Still no reply.  
She could feel Phil getting nervous.

“She isn’t answering May” She heard Phil say. “I wonder if everything’s fine” He continued.  
She knocked again and replied “She’s fine Phi..” before she could complete the sentence she heard someone unlock the door. 

She and Skye heard the sigh of relief that Phil let out. May didn’t know she herself had been holding a breath until the door open.

The door opened and Audrey stepped out.  
“Sorry was a bit occupied” she said as she opened the door to look at them. May thought she looked pretty much the way Phil had described her. She had an aura of warmth around her and her smile indeed very pleasing. Phil had describe her as saying that “she has this sense of warmth about her May. Her smile feels like the bright sunshine. Her eyes are so innocent May! I could spend hours and hours just staring into them. She makes me smile May, she makes me happy” . The first encounter itself with her made May feel good, she seemed like a good person in the first look itself. She felt like someone who’d keep Phil happy, that was enough for her.

Skye on the other hand thought ‘wow ! she does look great, just the way Jemma had described. AC is one lucky guy! but she isn’t the one made for him. May I hope you’re done with hi and hello. I’m sure AC’s heard her voice, now let’s go back to the bus and gets started on Mission “Get AC and May together”

“May! You’re ok ? you’ve gone silent” Phil said over the comms breaking the rail of thoughts both May and Skye were on. May realised that she was lost in thoughts, she snapped out of it and went over to greet Audrey.

“That’s fine” she said with a small smile. “You’re Audrey right ?” she asked. “Yes I very much am” she replied “am I in danger ?”

This question of hers got all 3 of them offguard.  
“Why does she think that ?” they both heard Coulson say.

“Umm why do you ask that ? Did anything happen ?” Skye asked.  
“Oh No! I thought SHIELD’s here, the last time they had come well ..” Audrey trailed off.

“How did you guess we’re from SHIELD ?” Skye asked surprised. ‘Is she a secret agent or something ? Or maybe being with Coulson, she had learnt some spy stuff as well !’

“I know you’re from SHIELD” she said pointing towards May. “I’ve met you before during .. during ..”

“I’m surprised you still recognised me” May cut her off before she could complete her statement which would let Phil and Skye know when was it that they had met.

"Well it's tough for me not to recognise you, is everything alright ?" Audrey asked. May decided not to let her worry, Coulson had gone silent. Not speaking a word.

May decided to initiate the talk "Oh yes. Me and my friend here were in Portland for some work, I thought I could just come and meet you, see if you're doing ok. It's just that .."

"Yeah it's going to be 2 years since that day." Audrey finished the sentence for her with a gloomy smile. Skye looked up at May and noticed that her expression had changed. She was dealing guilty and sad, Skye could tell by the way she was biting her bottom lip after Audrey said that. The only thing these 2 had in common was Coulson, so it must've been something about Coulson.

"Why don't you guys come in ? It'll get a bit chilly out there, I can make you a cup of tea before you leave" Audrey said moving aside to let them in.

Skye really wondered if it was a good idea to do this. Not only because she herself felt bad about lying to this woman but also because she could see that May was struggling as well. She was doing all this for Coulson, but she herself was finding this tough yet she didn't say anything.

"Please, we wouldn't like to disturb." Skye said trying to leave as soon as they can.

"Oh please it's no trouble, I know you are friends of Coulson, the last time we met, showed me that. I'd be more than happy to have you here for a cup of tea atleast" Audrey said.

May and Skye gave a small smile before entering her house.

"I'll put the kettle, please make yourself comfortable, my house isn't that big but it still is something. I had planned to move out last year but couldn't really make myself take that step." Audrey said before leaving into the kitchen and May and Skye were left in the living room.


	6. May and Audrey talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that May and Skye are at Audrey's place, they decide to talk.

Coulson here was in another world to be frank. He didn't know whether what he was feeling was to be called happiness or sadness, because it seemed like a weird concoction of both. On one hand hearing her voice gave him an extreme sense of happiness. She was fine, he could tell that from her voice. Seemed like she was trying to move on as well, so that made him feel good. He didn't want to be the one holding her back even when he couldn't be there in her life anymore. To be frank he wanted to go there, tell her that he was alive, but he couldn't, he could never clearly understand but he knew his death had impacted her deeply, and in his line of career, he could never really tell when death could come back knocking onto his door, so he needed to keep her out of the mess. Yet today when he heard her again, a weird sense of happiness formed in the pit of his stomach. While he felt happy that she was finally trying to move on, he felt sad about the same reason as well. Somewhere down in his heart, she still held a place, and she always would. She gave him a life no one in SHIELD ever could. Not that he regretted it, because he did not, if given a choice he would always choose the life he has, excluding the part about being stabbed to death by a Demi-God or being brought back to life using an alien serum, but he would still choose his life with SHIELD, it's because of SHIELD that he could call himself a hero in a sense. Trying to protect people from unknown dangers was something that he felt proud regarding his job profile. Who gets a chance to work with your childhood hero, or kind of pamper a tech genius who had an armoured suit, chit chat with a brilliant scientist who could turn into a giant hero ? SHIELD gave him all that, it also gave him a second chance at life, it gave him friends like Maria,Natasha,Clint,Fury himself. It gave him Melinda May, that beautiful gentle Asian girl he had met all those years back in the corridor of SHIELD Academy, who went on to become his best friend,partner and someone he would trust his life with. If he had a normal life like the others he wouldn't have an opportunity to meet these people, to meet Melinda, he didn't really like the thought of that but Audrey made him wonder sometimes how his life would've been if he wasn't SHIELD ? Maybe they'd get married, buy a house, have kids, a dog. He'd take his daughter to martial arts lessons, Audrey would've taught her to play the cello. He always wanted a daughter. He himself was the only kid for his parents, he really wanted a sister, and as he grew up he thought if not a sister, I'd definitely love to have a daughter some day. Maybe life wouldn't have been so horrible.  
Those all were dreams, this was reality. He made a conscious choice when he chose SHIELD, He had decided to let go of his chance at a normal life, but then he met Audrey and he thought for a moment that maybe both would be possible only to be killed, brought back to life and now leading a life where not many knew of his existence.  
The knock on his door interrupted him.

"Come in" he said.  
The door opened and Fitz entered.

"Just wanted to make sure you're ok Sir" Fitz replied. He was happy to see Fitz's concern. The last time a similar situation had occurred, it had been Fitz with him at that moment as well.

"I'm fine Fitz, thanks for asking, May and Skye are talking to Audrey right now."

"What ?" Fitz said, loud enough for Skye and May to hear over the comms.

"Is everything ok ? Tell me is everything fine ?" They heard May's voice over the speakers.

"Everything is fine" Coulson replied. "Fitz got a bit excited that's all" he looked at Fitz with a strict expression on his face.

"What's wrong Fitz ? You've been behaving a bit weird since morning" Coulson asked Fitz turning of the microphone.  
Fitz had started pacing the room, he was still using the crutch, so his pacing wouldn't actually be considered that, but the worry on his face led Coulson to think if everything was fine with him.

"This is wrong sir, totally wrong. You should've stopped May from going inside, she doesn't deserve this, first you send her to see Audrey and now you ask her to meet Audrey! This is so unfair" he replied his voice reaching a new pitch as he spoke.

"First of all calm down Fitz, and secondly you are not allowed to speak to me in that tone you understand, and I did not send May inside, she offered to go"

"Of course she did" Fitz cut him by raising his hand in the air and looking at him directly. "She's May for God’s sake, she will always put you in front of herself. No matter what toll it takes on her she'll always care about you, only you ! Don't you see what she is doing for you ? How tough this is for her ? Why can't you see ??" He sighed and held his forehead with his palm.  
Coulson was left in utter confusion. Fitz had said something similar to him in the evening as well. What did the kid mean ? Of course he cared about May. He cared for her way too much, then how could Fitz think he didn't ? How could he blame him for not caring about May ?

"Fitz I.." Before he could continue the voice over the speaker caught his attention.

"I know this seems awkward but I couldn’t get your name" he heard Audrey say timidly. Audrey had always been timid and gentle. He remembered the time when he had saved her from Daniels. She was extremely scared, she called him her knight in shining armour, as if he’d come just to save her. He chuckled at that thought. She always saw her as her hero, though he was far from that. He was no hero, he was a mere mortal, a mortal who had died and was brought back from afterlife.

“You have met before but don’t know each others’ names ?” Skye asked astonished.

“We didn’t exactly meet” Audrey said.

“It was more that we both were at the same place at the same time” May added.

“I’m Melinda, Melinda May” May replied looking at Audrey, who had settled in one of the sofas.

“You’re Melinda May ?” Audrey asked with an astonished voice.  
Coulson could understand why she had been so surprised. Of course she had heard about May but had never seen her because Coulson had never officially introduced her to Melinda, she had just heard about her in the countless stories that he had shared with her about May, why wouldn’t he ? May was his best friend and partner. Then a thought struck him, if he had never introduced Audrey to May, then when had Audrey met her ?

“You know me ?” Melinda asked her.

“Ofcourse I do, Phil spoke so much about you” Audrey replied. a huge smile on her face.

“Oh” May replied nodding her head. Skye didn’t waste a moment in catching a quick glimpse of May. She could notice May trying to hide a smile. ‘Of Course ! She should rather be blushing’ Skye internally snorted. She also realised that this was the first time they had actually taken AC’s name. They were sitting in his girlfriend’s house, drinking tea and it was now that they mention his name.

“Yes, whenever we met, he would atleast mention your name after every 2-3 minutes. About how after an unsuccessful mission, meeting you would cheer him up, about how you used to be his partner, to be frank I even know what you like to eat, and maybe even your favourite music.” Audrey added with a laugh.  
May didn’t have any idea about how to reply to that. This was getting awkward, they should leave soon enough. By what Audrey was telling her it seemed like he used to mention her name a lot in their conversations, and that did seem a bit awkward. Audrey didn’t know Phil was alive, maybe if she had then she wouldn’t have mentioned all this, but May knew he was alive and that once work was done here, she had to go back to working with Phil, so she preferred not to know much about what all Phil and Audrey spoke about.  
Skye on the other hand had completely different thoughts. She couldn’t understand how on earth were AC and May not ‘together’ as yet. She thought that the guy used to speak mostly about his best friend while talking to his girlfriend, to the extent that his girlfriend even knew May’s favourites, and yet he had never made them meet officially, how was it possible for someone to be so much in love with his best friend and not realise that yet. Maybe he did, but never really acknowledged that.  
Phil on this side was thinking something totally different. Did he actually speak so much about May with Audrey ? He agreed that when he wasn’t with Audrey he mostly used to spend his time on missions and with SHIELD, but May was working in the admin, when he had met Audrey, so it wasn’t that they went on missions together anymore. Yet he used to meet her whenever he was near the headquarters. He was actually very happy when Fury had approached him with the Avengers Initiative program. It proved to be a great way for him to visit the headquarters, a way he could meet Melinda whenever he was there. They used to go out for dinner soon after. He missed her when she wasn’t with him on the missions but he never let go any opportunity he got to spend time with her. She wouldn’t really admit to him but he knew that she used to work late on the days he was at the headquarters so that they could leave together. He smiled at those memories. Audrey was right, he really did think and speak a lot about May. She was an important part of his life since the day they first met at the academy. They had been together through achievements,failures,near death experiences and so much more. He couldn’t imagine a life without her there, No wonder he used to speak so much about her. Audrey even knew what Melinda liked and disliked. That was a bit too much he thought, if he knew May well enough he knew that she was getting a bit awkward. He wished he could help her out of this conversation.

“You have a great house” Skye said trying to divert the topic.

“Oh thank you” I was going to move out of Portland after Daniels returned last year, but couldn’t, way too many memories associated with this place” Her voice had a quiver that made Phil’s really uneasy. It hurt him to hear her sad like this, he really wished he could go up to her at this very moment.  
Audrey looked up to May and said “It’s because of Phil and SHIELD, that I’m still alive today, they continued to protect me even when Phil isn’t here anymore.” There was so much sadness in her voice, but that didn’t affect him as much as May’s reply did.

"I was going to come meet you that day,I was there but I couldn’t gather myself to, I just ..” May trailed off.  
He couldn't believe he heard May's voice shake. May never let herself be vulnerable in front of anyone, in some situations she would let her guard down in front of him, but Audrey was a stranger and she let herself be vulnerable and let off her emotions in front of her. She had been really shaken to the core about what they were speaking about. He felt like air had been kicked out of his lungs. This was May, she was his strength, she was his support, she couldn’t break down, she was invincible wasn’t she ? but then she was a human afterall, she had emotions, she broke down too, he wished he was there, Skye had never even thought that May could break down and to be fact she wouldn’t even realise because May would compose herself immediately, and Audrey didn’t even know May as well as he did, he should be there because he could recognise that her voice sounded sad, he should be there because the only thing he could do for May was to be a friend.

"I understand Melinda, I know how special your and Phil’s bond was, if not any other day, you had the right to let go of all formalities in that one moment. You know I hadn’t actually seen you until everyone had left. I had come back to take something I had forgotten when I noticed you there"

“Umm .. Ok .. I really don’t know what you’re speaking about” Skye asked then cursed herself was letting her curiosity get the better of her. They were speaking of something delicate and instead of diverting the topic she decided to ask further, ‘Damn! Skye, control your tongue’ she cursed herself.

“Oh we were talking of Phil’s … Phil’s … funeral” Audrey said. “In 2 days it’ll be two years since that day” She continued.

“Oh I’m so sorry” Skye replied. ‘she has to change the topic now, May and Audrey were talking of Phil’s funeral while Phil was on the comms. listening to it, nothing could be more weird than that.’ she wondered what Phil was thinking right now.  
Phil on the other hand couldn’t believe what he had heard. To be frank the thought that they were speaking of his funeral while he was still alive did feel weird, but Audrey didn’t know he was so the sadness in her voice was justified. May on the other hand knew he was doing fine (well to some extent) yet there was a certain heaviness in her voice that broke him. He could recognise from her voice that she was reliving the moment in her mind. It’s that when it struck him, he never had spoken to her about how his ‘death’ had affected her. He remembered what she had told him in the bus one they had landed on in the HQ “to think you were dead ..” her eyes had so much sadness in that moment, while his were clouded with anger and so he didn’t give her any consideration, but now when he remembered her look at that moment he realised that his death must’ve had a huge impact on her.

May was someone who people would think is an ice queen, she knew how to compartmentalise, atleast that’s what people thought but he knew better, he knew that memories that had an impact on her, she never forgot them, she kept them packed up in her mind and re-lived them again and again. She never managed to let go of Bahrain, and maybe his death was one of them. He cursed himself for thinking that he wanted to know more, to get more information about what her reaction was, but it was only because he wanted to re assure her of his being alive. He genuinely felt that she needed him there.  
He glanced at Fitz there, seeing Fitz he realised the kid understood well enough that May was sad. He had noticed that May had opened up to the kid, not as much as she did with Phil, but she was comfortable around Fitz,enough to discuss things on a more personal level with him.  
He wanted them to leave now, he needed May to return as soon as they can. He couldn't comfort Audrey, that was out of his control, but he definitely could try to talk things with May, she needed him as much as he needed her. He was going to make sure once they were back to the bus, they’d send the kids out for some fun and they would spend some time together.

“May it’s time you return” He said over the comms. He looked at Fitz who nodded his head in approval.

"I think we should be leaving” Skye said.

“Yes, it was nice meeting you Audrey.” May added.

“Hmm .. I miss him, but I’m happy to see you visit me, do drop by sometime again when you’re here, consider me a friend as well May” Audrey said.  
May nodded her head with a smile. She was actually happy to have visited Audrey even though she hadn’t planned to earlier. Audrey was someone who was almost affected when Phil had died as much as she did, maybe even more and to have someone who understood that was nice. She knew Phil was alive but those memories of the days she went through before she was told that he was alive, were some she could never forget even though she really wanted to. She had always felt that Audrey was a great companion for Phil, she made him smile, happy but after meeting her today she had a newfound respect for her. Phil was lucky he had found someone like her.  
They got up to leave. The mission was done, a mission that was needed. They had been so engrossed in being shadows and in the hiding that they had forgotten about connecting with people,living life and today it had been a chance.  
May and Skye reached the door and as soon as they opened it they were faced with something that left them shocked.  
Things were about to change now, and not for the better.


	7. Face Off - 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melinda May and Skye have to face an old enemy to protect Audrey

“Hello Agent May, wasn’t expecting our next meeting would happen in Portland” A lady’s voice was heard.

A voice that immediately set Phil Coulson into panic, he feared what he had finally agreed upon to be a nightmare was actually going to turn out to be true.

“Raina, knew you couldn’t stay away from us for long.” May replied, taking out her gun and getting into stance.

“What are you doing here Raina?” Skye asked.

“Skye, guard Audrey.” May ordered. She turned to Audrey immediately and said “Audrey don’t worry, everything will be ok” she had sensed that Audrey would panic. She had already been through facing psychopaths like Daniels and even though Raina didn’t seem that dangerous by looks of it, the girl was far from that. She had seen what the girl was capable of and didn’t want to put Audrey or Skye through any such danger.

“May is everything fine ? Update me on the situation. Is everything ok ? Should I send in backup.” Coulson’s voice was heard over comm.

“Everything is fine Ph..” she almost slipped but realised Audrey was still there, “Things are fine director, don’t worry, Skye take Audrey inside, while Raina tells me what she is doing here”

“Not so easily Agent May” Raina replied. “You see I had been waiting for this moment way too long, so I would love to have an audience watching as I capture and take Phil Coulson’s girlfriend with me. May his soul Rest In Peace” Raina replied with a smirk.

“You are going to do nothing like that Raina, as long as I’m here, you’re not going to be able to even come near her.” May replied.

“Oh if I were you, I wouldn’t say that Agent May, you see I am not here alone, I have a whole army ready to be activated immediately once I let them know, and there is no way you can beat them, and in case your friend there, the director, if he’s hearing tell him he can send in backup now, because by the time they reach I’ll be done with my work.” Raina replied.

“I would like to see you try” May answered.

“May, Tripp is getting the bus ready for take off, we’ll be there soon enough.” Coulson announced over the comms.

“Ok then Agent May, let the fun begin” Raina said and before anything could be done, 2 well built guys, dressed up in black jackets that carried the HYDRA symbol on it entered from behind Raina. 

“It what’s you asked for Agent May, though I can still give you the opportunity, send Audrey with us, and we’ll let you and Skye go.”

“Nothing of that sort is going to happen” May said and fired the night night gun she had at one of the guys, he fell backwards but even before an impact could be registered, he stood back up. May couldn’t believe her eyes, she had first hand experience as to what the nightnight gun was capable of doing, but these guys didn’t seem to have any effect on them.

On hearing the shooting,Skye came rushing out from inside. “May, let me help.” Skye said, taking out her ICER as well.

“No use, these guys aren’t affected by ICERs, seems some sort of experimentation has been done on them.” May replied.

“I need you to keep Audrey safe, at any damn cost Skye, don’t worry about anything else.” May ordered.

“But ..” Before Skye could complete her sentence May rushed towards one of the guys and kicked him hard in the stomach. He lost his balance but immediately managed to gather himself.

“May .. May are you there ? May..” Coulson started panicking and shouted over the comms. but realised that the comms must’ve been disconnected. He rushed over to prepare for leaving.

Skye started shooting at the other guy but he was affected to a minimum , it would stop them for some 5 seconds and later he was up again and started to approach Skye.

As soon as he almost leaped towards Skye, May jumped from behind getting the guy into a sleeper hold.

Skye looked behind to see the other guy had been thrown out of the house after crashing through a window.

“Skye, I need you to take Audrey and leave, escape from the kitchen window, go to the car and contact the bus as soon as you can.Do not wait for me”

“But May what about ..” Skye tried to interrupt.

“It’s an order Agent Skye, as your SO and the one in charge of this mission, you are not to wait for me”

The guy struggled to release himself from May’s grasp, and the other had also started approaching the house back again.

Hoping that Tripp and the team would be here before anything worse happened, Skye ran inside as fast as she could.

“We need to leave” Skye replied in a hurry.

“But Melinda..” Audrey tried to say something but was cut off by Skye.

“She’ll be fine, or so I hope, but right now we’ve to keep you safe, let’s go.”

They both entered the kitchen, opened up a window and got out from it.

They started to run towards the SUV, but were halted on the way an old enemy.

“Not so fast Skye, nice to see you again though and alive” Ian Quinn said.

Skye pulled out her gun and aimed at him and ready to shoot, she glanced at Audrey and indicated her to run.

“Step aside Ian, because this time the gun is in my hands” Skye replied.

“Oh darling, you’re still the same I see, daring, confident, I’m sure you’re new SO would be proud of you, once everything is over and incase you’re alive, you can go visit her grave.” He replied.

“Oh in case you’ve forgotten, she’s the cavalry Quinn, nothing is capable of beating her” Skye replied.

“Is that so, well I’m sure you’ll find out soon, as of now we really have to get going, you see our boss doesn’t like to wait much.” Ian replied.

Before Skye could realise what was happening, she could feel a bullet hit her from the back, a force rushing inside her like fire, filling up her nerves, and she found herself seeing everything go blur.

She saw Raina holding Audrey walk up to Quinn and then she said “Don’t worry Skye you’re not going to die, you see my boss wouldn’t be really happy if you did and to add to that we need you to convey your director a message, tell him to make sure he finds us, otherwise he’s going to regret what he would lose” and everything went dark for Skye.

“We need to rush” Raina said, “as per my knowledge SHIELD should be here in the next 5 minutes”, she injected Audrey with something and even though Audrey was conscious, she could find no energy in her to fight these people and run.

“What about Agent May ?” Quinn asked when he noticed one of their guys carrying an unconscious May as he stepped out of the house, seems like she was bleeding as they could see the guy's hands drenched in blood.

“Well let’s just say she’ll be an added bonus, I’m sure boss will be happy with such a great lab rat” Raina replied with a smile.


	8. Phil's Dilemma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the future of May and Audrey in danger, what will Phil do ?

Trip had somewhat managed to land in a barren land a little far from the main city, it couldn’t be exactly referred to as landing because they were still in air but he managed to bring the bus low enough for Coulson and Jemma to deboard using one of the vehicles, before he took off, they couldn’t afford being seen by someone, and moreover they couldn’t park the bus anywhere in the area, Fitz had still been working on the cloaking but without any success as yet.

“Sir how far are we from Ms.Nathan’s place ?” Jemma asked, panic clear in her voice. She along with Fitz had been debriefed about what had happened. though Fitz wanted to come as well, he understood that he could prepare the bus for the arrival of May,Skye and Audrey, they didn’t know what had happened there, especially after the comms. had got disconnected. He needed to keep the med bay set,in case there had been any injuries.

“We’ll be there soon enough Jemma” Coulson replied. His eyes focussed on the road ahead, his mind was filling up with crazy thoughts. He was scared and worried. He didn’t know what had happened, and the possibilities had him really scared. He had always thought that one day maybe he would go back to Audrey’s place, but never thought this was how it would happen. Right now though he was least worried about Audrey because she was under May’s protection and even Skye was there to help, they would keep her safe. May would go to any extremes to keep Audrey safe and that’s what had him worried. He was worried for May, especially after he had heard her shouting, soon after which her comms. got disconnected. They had tried contacting Skye but the lines had been disrupted. He was scared for May, it’s not that May was weak or that she couldn’t fight those people, she definitely could, but she wasn’t one to give up, she wouldn’t back out from the fight till the end to protect Audrey and that is what had him worried. He remembered how she had rescued so many people back there in Bahrain, but that had changed her so much, he didn't know what was to be anticipated here, was it just Raina or were there more people involved, what if they harmed May ? May couldn't be injured, she was invincible wasn't she ? He knew that wasn't true, yet he refused to believe that.

As soon as they arrived there, they got out of the car and Coulson told Jemma to go check the house, while he would check the perimeters.

The first thing he had noticed was the car, May and Skye had come in, parked in the corner. He carefully approached it and opened it to find it still empty. It could only mean 2 things that either they were still in the house, or something had happened to them, and he was going to hope that it was the earlier thought that was true.

It took him all of a minute to think when he heard Jemma shout his name. "Director Coulson !!" She screamed "come here .."

He didn't even realise that he had started running towards her before she could even complete her statement. 

He had almost reached the house before he saw Jemma in the garden, holding an unconscious Skye. She was busy making sure Skye was breathing.

"Oh my god ! Is she ok ?" He asked. He remembered the last time they had faced a similar situation. Skye had almost died then until he and the team managed to get hold of the last bit of GH 325 to save her, he wanted to make sure the girl was fine, he couldn't let anything happen to her.

"She's just unconscious sir" Jemma replied. "There don't seem to be any external injuries as such apart from this on her forehead" she said pointing to what seemed like a bruise on her forehead "probably caused by falling down, which means that she was made to lose consciousness maybe by something being injected into her" she completed.

"Will she be fine ?" Coulson asked.

"We need to really take her to the med bay sir for a thorough checkup, but her vital seems fine, maybe she was shot with something like an ICER, there's a small mark on her back, whoever did this didn't want her dead" she completed.

"Ok let's take Skye to the van and then I'll come back to check for May and Audrey" he said.

"Sir .. It's fine, I'll manage, I think you need to first look for May and Ms. Nathan" Jemma replied. Even though she had a comforting smile on her face which she had deliberately put up to assure him that everything would be fine, he could see the fear in her eyes. He knew how much she was worried about May and Audrey, he was too.

"Ok, once you get settled in, make sure you contact Trip to bring the bus back to collect us" he said and left immediately to check the house. His heart was racing at a speed he didn't know was possible. Sweat laced his forehead and he felt sick. He could never ever forgive himself if something would happen to any of them.

He slowly unlocked the door and opened it and was visited by an unimaginable sight.

The living room was a wreck, photo frames shattered, furniture broken, Audrey had a habit of collecting art, but all he could see were broken pieces of painting and other collectibles.

What particularly caused him to almost give up all hope was blood on the carpet. It wasn't a lot but it was enough, enough to have left someone seriously injured. He felt himself going sick, as if he would puke any moment. The thought of it belonging to either May or Audrey was something he couldn't even imagine.

He collected a bit of the blood as a sample and went further in to see the kitchen a mess. The window open and all utensils on the floor. 'Someone might've tried to escape from here' he thought.

He went to the other room. It screamed of Audrey from every corner. Peach coloured walls. Paintings, antiques. He took, Audrey's hairbrush for a DNA sample to match with the blood.

He looked around every nook and corner of the house hoping he'd find something to tell where they were or whether they were even alive or not. He didn't want to think about that but he had no option. If they were in fact alive and had been taken by Raina and her people, he would bring them back at any cost.

After finally resigning to the fact that May and Audrey weren't in the house, he stepped out to join back Skye and Jemma. Atleast Skye was safe, and now she was his only hope in finding out what had happened to May and Audrey.

Jemma got excited on seeing Coulson come. She was sitting in the back seat with Skye's head resting on her lap, still unconscious but seeing him come alone, her smile immediately turned into a frown. Coulson's expression though tough to read was definitely not a good one and she was worried that something might've happened.

"Sir is .." Jemma tried asking but was cut off by Phil, "No the house is empty, both of them aren't there or even nearby, once we go back to the bus, I need you to match this blood sample with May and Audrey's DNA to find out if it does or doesn't belong to any of them" he replied already starting the car and leaving.

"I'm sure they'll be fine sir" Jemma said leaning forward to rest her hand on his shoulder as a sort of comfort.

"I hope so Jemma, I really hope so" he replied.

The ride back to the bus was silent. Phil was contemplating on what had actually happened while Jemma was busy looking over Skye.

As soon as they reached their pickup location, Trip was ready with the hangar lowered for them to get into the bus.

Fitz came as fast as it was possible for him, and Coulson along with Keonig, helped Jemma shift Skye onto a gurney to be taken to the medbay.

“Fitz tell Trip to take off to a safer location where we can park the bus, maybe where May had parked the bus earlier.” Coulson told Fitz.

“But sir .. what about ..” Fitz tried to ask but was cut off by Coulson who seemed to be really angry “Do as I say Fitz, May isn’t here, I’ll tell you what happened once we’re in the air”

Fitz nodded and left off to inform Trip.

“Jemma you need any help ?” He asked looking at Jemma who was busy fussing over Skye once they had taken her to the med bay.

“No Sir, I’ll manage from here and will update you once I’m done.” She replied, not even lifting her head up to take a look at Coulson.

Coulson nodded and left the med bay. He seemed to be in some sort of a hurry. His mind was racing at a speed that was beyond calculation. He felt as if he had to be somewhere at this point at any cost. Where ? He had no idea. Trip had just come out of the cockpit when he saw Coulson rushing up the stairs towards his office. He didn’t know whether he should’ve followed him or not. When he heard Coulson’s office door shut loudly, he decided he should meet him but after some time.

Coulson at this moment didn’t know what he felt like. He felt everything go numb. He didn’t know how to react or what to do. Everything had turned into a mess. It seemed as if his life had come to a halt out of nowhere. It was just in the morning that day that the whole team was together having breakfast, Audrey was fine in Portland and he ? He had Melinda by his side, who was trying to cheer him up because he saw a nightmare, and now Skye was laying unconscious in the med bay and they had no idea why, Tripp,Jemma and Fitz were working on bringing her back, and Audrey and May were nowhere to be found. He didn’t even know what he was supposed to do in this situation. He was the director, the team would require him to lead them, take decisions for them, help them deal with their problems, but right now he didn’t know what to do. He was lost and he needed help and the one person who could help him, he didn’t even know if she was alive or not. ‘No ! I can’t even let myself think that !’ he thought to himself. ‘They would be fine, May would make sure Audrey was safe, and he wouldn’t give up on the hope of May being alive till he had no other option left, she would be fine, she has to be. They would wait for Skye to get up and let them tell what happened and then they’d proceed accordingly’ he decided.

A knock on his office door focussed his attention back to the future.

“Sir ?” Jemma peeped it after opening the door a little.

“How’s Skye, Jemma ?” Phil asked immediately.

“That’s what I came to update you about.” She now entered the office and stood in front of him.

“Sir, Skye was injected with a serum to make her unconscious. Seems the attackers knew what they were doing. they didn’t want to kill Skye, so instead injected her with the serum to make her unconscious” Jemma replied.

“So you have any antidote for that ?” Coulson asked partly relieved that atleast Skye was safe for now.

“No sir, the effect of the serum will automatically wear off and she’ll come back to consciousness.” Jemma replied.

“Hmm..” Phil replied nodding his head. “I need to debrief the team about what happened they all must be worried.” he said and begin to walk towards the door.

“Director ..” Jemma called from behind halting him mid way. He turned around to see the girl fidgeting with her hands as if she was extremely nervous about something, as if she was hiding something, something she wanted to say but unsure as to how.

“Jemma, is everything ok ?” He asked.

“umm .. sir .. It’s not just Skye that I had to come to speak to you about, the blood sample that you gave ..” She trailed off unsure about how to continue.

“What about it ?” He asked suddenly being reminded about the blood sample. Looking at the way Jemma was being unsure he knew it wasn’t good news, he just need to know who’s blood it was, he had an idea who it might be and that really scared him.

When Jemma didn’t replied he asked sternly “Jemma, who does the blood belong to ?” “Sir it’s Agent May” she replied dropping her her head, sadness lacing her tone.

His heart dropped on listening who the blood belonged to. May was injured, and the amount of blood he had seen might not be that much, but you could never know. Even a tiny cut could be deadly. What if something had happened to May. What if she was injured badly and she might be bleeding right now ? What if she was already .. No! He couldn't let that thought come into his mind. He was going to look for her, he was not going to give up on her, she never gave up on him, so it was time he would stand up for her. He would find her and get her back at any cost, safe and sound.' He decided that was exactly what he would do. That's what May always did for him, protected him, ensured his safety before hers and he was stupid enough to send her there just because he wanted to find out if Audrey was ok and risked her life, Audrey who didn't even know of his existence, and now he had put both their lives at risk and he was going to change that.

"Call everyone to lounge, we need to explain what exactly had happened." Coulson told Jemma. She nodded her head and left.

Coulson decided to wait a moment to let himself sink into reality. Audrey was in danger, May was in danger and injured and an unconscious Skye lay there in the med bay, the only one who could give them answers as to what exactly had happened.

The team was busy discussing and talking about what had happened downstairs in the lounge after Trip had set the bus into auto pilot, there wasn't long before they'd be back at the playground.

"I told him not to .." Fitz said, pacing the room using his crutch.

"He didn't exactly have an option Fitz" Jemma tried to say.

"Of course he did" Fitz looked up at Jemma and said in a lower voice "there is always an option Jemma, it's just about what you choose" he replied lowering his head again.

"It was Agent May's choice Fitz, you know she wouldn't have sat in the bus if something had been worrying the Director and if she was capable of solving it" Trip replied.

"I know ... I know and that's the problem. She would always put him before herself, but it's necessary that at times we stand up for her too, if she decides to go to The Director's ex, just to ensure him she's safe even though the woman didn't even know he was alive, we have to tell her she shouldn't do so, that's it's a wrong decision because May would never think of herself first, it'll always be him and then her." Fitz replied in a clearly agitated tone.

"You're right Fitz" a voice from the stairs forced the team to look upstairs to see Coulson standing there hands on the railing and looking at them.

"You're right, May always has kept me first, has kept us first and then herself, she cares about us way too much and wouldn't risk her lives for us, but that's May. That's always been May. We...." he paused before continuing "I have been taking her for granted, and now because of me she is at a risk, so I will try my best to make sure that she comes back home safe and sound. Not just her but Audrey too, the woman has had more faith on SHIELD than anything else and we won't let that down. I just need to know if you all are going to help because I sure as hell can't bring back May without you guys helping me"

The team gave him a sympathetic smile and a nod. They all knew that he was the director and was burdened with a lot of stuff on his shoulders, rebuilding an organisation from scratch wasn't an easy job and it had taken its toll on him, but they had also seen that he had May with him throughout the face, his rock and wall of support. Without her he was definitely not as strong as he wanted to be, so they would take over the job from May till they brought her back.

"Good, so let me tell you guys exactly what happened and how to proceed" Coulson said coming down the stairs. " as you know May and Skye had visited Audrey, unlike the normal plan to just check if she was ok or not, they went to her house to talk a little with her to ensure me that she was safe." He said with guilt lacing his voice. He felt guilty and no matter what anyone said it couldn't change that he held himself responsible. "After the conversation, Skye and May were set to leave, when Raina had entered" he paused for a bit before continuing "Raina asked May to hand over Audrey to her, but May as we know refused to do so, May asked Skye to keep Audrey safe inside, and I heard a scream after which the comms got disconnected" He answered.

"When Jemma and I went there, I found a pool of blood inside the house, who's sample meet with May's and Skye was fallen in the garden and seems she was injected with some sort of serum with what seems like an ICER, Audrey and May were missing, I checked the premises but they were nowhere to be seen" he finally ended his speech and glanced up at his team. Everyone seemed to blame themselves for something, Trip looked like he felt guilty for not going with them as an extra backup, Jemma for not being able to bring Skye back to consciousness immediately and Fitz, he looked as if he blamed himself for everything. For letting May go, for not protesting against her going. He was very close to May, Phil knew that apart from himself, it was Fitz with whom May shared a much personal bond. She cared about the kid a lot, he had seen her train him and she was determined to get him back to normal, if she hadn't been there he wouldn't have recovered as much as he had, so it was obvious the kid cared a lot about her and was worried for her extremely.

"So what now sir ?" Fitz asked hesitantly looking at Coulson.

"We now wait for Skye to tell us what exactly had happened" he replied looking towards the Med Bay where Skye lay unconscious.


	9. Hostage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With limited time in hand May has to find a way to help Audrey escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't own Marvel or AoS. Just a huge fan

Audrey woke up with a bad headache and an extremely blurred vision. She wanted to hold her head tight in her hands as the headache seemed to go off limits. As she slowly focussed, she could see her surroundings coming into vision.  
She looked around to realise that she was in a dark room. The room was rather empty, almost like a jail cell with light coming from a single source, a small opening located on one of the walls at the height of around 15 feet. The ceiling was even high and nothing else was there around. She realised her hand were tied behind her, which she couldn't escape from. She looked around, squinting her eyes to focus further. What caught her attention left her surprised. In the darkness of the room, she could see someone lying at one corner of the room, she focussed further, her head throbbing with pain every time she tried to do so, and managed to recognise that the person was none other than Melinda May.

Struggling,she managed to crawl over to Melinda, who seemed to be unconscious. She saw that May's attire was unlike what she had worn before, she was just in a tank top now, which seemed to be a little wet on one side. Turning around she managed to lift her t-shirt a little to see a deep gash on one side of May, which seemed to have stopped bleeding, because of messed up stitches made there, for that purpose. Even with basically no idea about medicine, even she could tell that they were made in a hurry just to stop her from bleeding out. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, so that she couldn't attempt an escape. Audrey was surprised that the kidnapper had used handcuffs for May and just a rope for her, but then she was no SHIELD agent, and according to what Phil had told her, May was a very good agent, so they would take all precautions to keep her from escaping.

She wondered what she could do, she needed May to come back to conscious, because she was the only one who could help out.

"Melinda she called out." On getting no response she tried again "please wake up Melinda" she said again. She looked around to see if she could use something to wake May up, but found nothing. "Wake up Melinda .. Please please ..." She said with desperation in her voice, and a slight murmur, made her realise that Melinda was waking up. "Oh god Melinda! Thank god! Please wake up" she continued to say.

May could hear someone's voice pleading her to wake up, she couldn't remember what had happened and everything seemed messy, she could feel a throbbing pain to her head and even more near her waist. Something really hurt, but all she could focus was on the voice. It seemed soft, tender and really panicking. Skye ? Or maybe Jemma ? Were they calling out to her, she realised the voice was different and focussed further to realise it was someone else, then it all came rushing back to her, Audrey! The voice belonged to Audrey, what was Audrey doing here ? She opened her eyes and saw Audrey looking at her. She wasn't injured as such, but looked as if she had seen a monster. Eyes filled with panic and worry.

Audrey saw intently as May came into consciousness.  
"Melinda.." She said, her voice filled with relief on seeing the one person she wanted to see alive right now, being so. "Thank god you're ok, I thought you were ..." And she trailed off.

May tried to move her hands to realise they were handcuffed behind her. She tried to sit up, but a rush of pain shot up from her stomach and she hissed.

"Careful, you were badly injured, they stitched you up to stop the bleeding for now" Audrey said.

May slowly tried to sit back up, crawling towards the wall to rest her back on it once she succeeded to manage to sit up. Audrey joined beside her.

May tried to remember what had happened. She was fighting those 2 men inside Audrey's house and Skye had managed to run off with Audrey, atleast that's what she had thought.  
She had held one of the guys in a sleeper hold when he managed to throw her off above his head, making her hit a painting on the wall, and the glass pieces had shattered, one of them piercing through her waist. She remember trying to stand up in pain, but when the guy walked up to her and managed to knock her out, she remembered everything going black. She was quite sure she wouldn't have survived, had she been left there, but it seemed like they tried to keep her alive.  
Another thought that came to her mind immediately was that she wasn't able to protect Audrey like she had promised Phil. She hated disappointing him, and if something would happen to Audrey she could never forgive herself. Also if Audrey was here then where was Skye ?

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you" she said after a moment. Her voice still raspy, and the pain throbbing from the side.

"I'm alive, you risked your life to save me, thank you. No wonder Phil admired you so much" Audrey replied.

"I wonder how Skye is" May said, clearly concerned for her student. The girl was someone May was really proud about.

"She should be fine. They left her there" Audrey said and continued "they hit her with something and she fell unconscious, they pushed me into this van and another guy brought you with him and then they injected me with something because of which I fell unconscious"

"I'll try and get you out at any cost" May replied.

"Why did you actually come to meet me ?" Audrey asked after a few minutes, in a low voice, almost a whisper.

May looked up at her confused.

"Well it seemed quite obvious they had come for me, so you knew they were gonna attack right ?" Audrey asked.

May knew that they couldn't lie to Audrey especially after everything that had happened but at the same time she couldn't tell the truth, that was for sure.

"We .. Got some Intel, that you might be in trouble, We came to make sure you were safe and assess the situation, seemed they attacked earlier than expected." May lied, well if not the full truth then half of it was ok right ? They had come to assess the situation after all.  
Audrey's nod assured her she was satisfied with the answer.

"We need to think of a way to get you out of here, as soon as possible" May said.

"Us" Audrey said.

"Sorry ?" May asked confused.

"We need to think of a way to get 'us' out of here, if anyone's getting out of here it's gonna be both of us together." Audrey replied.

May smirked at that. She was definitely a very very nice person. She was glad that Phil had fallen for this woman, if things hadn't taken a turn for the worse after New York, she was sure Phil would have been a very happy person with her.

"So, you wanna talk about something while we plan a way to get out ?" Audrey asked noticing May observing the surroundings clearly formulating a plan to escape.  
She was right, that was exactly what May was doing. She had noticed the room carefully, there was a small window at the top, for light and air to enter. They didn't have anything to reach it,even if one of them stood over the shoulders of the other. Apart from that window, the room only consisted of them. Audrey's question brought her out of her thoughts.

"Huh ?" May asked.

"Sorry.." Audrey replied nervously "I'm not a SHIELD agent you know, I do tend to get nervous in such a situation." She replied.

May smiled in reply. She was a SHIELD agent, she knew how to control and compartmentalise, she could manage to think rationally in such a situation, she could focus all her thinking on an escape plan, but that wasn't the case with Audrey. It was obvious she would be scared, May wasn't really comforting, but she knew she had to make sure Audrey wasn't too scared, or else she'd have a panic attack, so talking with her would be the easiest thing she could do.

"I'm not really the talking kind" May said with a shrug. She knew she had to think of a plan right now to escape but it didn't hurt to talk to Audrey, she was still in a lot of pain and she needed some sort of diversion.

"I know" Audrey said with a little chuckle. "Phil had told me that you never used to speak much but were a great listener, always used to listen attentively to what he said"

May smiled at that thought. Of course he would've told her that,they were partners for years,best friends, they had spent most of their time together and even though one would say Phil Coulson was a chatterbox, but only she and a few others knew that Phil was really awkward when it came to talking, he never really knew what to say and so would blab whatever came into his mind, but still it felt awkward to think that Phil spoke about her when he spoke with his girlfriend.

“Yeah, Phil never really gave anyone a chance to speak much did he ?” she replied.  
“I know” Audrey said with sad smile and a small chuckle.  
May won’t say this felt awkward, firstly because she knew Phil was alive but Audrey didn’t and more importantly because she didn’t want to speak about him in the past tense. Sadly the only thing connecting them was Phil Coulson, and they really didn’t know what else to talk about except him, to add to that May wouldn’t admit it but she was really hurting. The guy who might’ve stitched up her injury had done a pretty shabby job and it hurt like a bitch. She could do nothing before the pain subsided to a tolerable limit after which she could plan on a way to escape.

“I miss him” Audrey said suddenly out of the blue. “I know that he isn’t coming back, and I should move on, I am trying to believe me, but it’s just that sometimes I can’t help but wonder how it would have been if he wasn’t … dead ?”

May really didn’t have any idea how to respond to that. Not only because she knew very well that Phil Coulson was very much not dead, but also talking about his death takes her back to one of the darkest moments of her life, a moment she would not even dare to revisit even in her dreams.

“I need you not thinking of things that make you sad Audrey, we should try and avoid situations that might cause you to have a panic attack” May said trying to avoid the path their discussion was headed.  
She wanted to talk about Phil, talking about him made her feel happy,relaxed. She could concentrate better with him by her side, and now since he wasn’t physically here maybe thinking about him was the best thing she could do.Audrey wasn’t exactly the perfect choice to speak about Coulson with, but then she was someone who knew the ‘Phil’ behind Agent Coulson, so it felt ok. She also needed to make sure she was calm and composed, Audrey wasn’t a field agent and she didn’t know any form of techniques to handle such a situation, so she might get nervous quickly, and if May was going to get them out of here, she needed to ensure Audrey would be able to follow her orders properly.

“Yes.. sorry” Audrey said squinting her eyes to get rid of the tears that were forming in them.

"So how come we never met ?" Audrey asked, "I was with Phil for more than 3 years, he mentioned many a times about you, but we never managed to meet" Audrey explained on seeing Melinda's confused expression.

"Umm I really don't know. I got pretty occupied with work and so did Phil, we used to meet once in a while but never really met up like we used to during the early years of our career" Melinda replied honestly, well almost.  
She remembers the day Phil had told her about Audrey. He had called her up and seemed so excited. He had called to ask her what tie would suit him better for his date with this girl he had asked out on a date, before he left back to New York 2 days later. For someone it would seem like a total waste of call, but for them it was something bigger, something very important.  
Their relationship had always been like this, whether pre Bahrain or post Bahrain. They used to talk about tiny little things. Even for random reasons like what they should have for dinner, they used to call up each other. It was just their way of life, seeking each other's approval with whatever they did, and when Phil was about to date someone, he was bound to ask for May's approval, so that phone call was his way of informing her that he was planning to see someone.

“May can I ask you something ?” Audrey said hesitantly.  
May wondered why Audrey was seeking her permission. She was already quite awkward with the conversation they were having.  
“Go ahead” May replied replied.  
“I know that this conversation doesn’t mean anything now, Phil isn’t even here, and I know I shouldn’t be asking you this, especially in such a situation” she paused before continuing “were you and Phil ever you know more than just friends ?”

This caught her off-guard, Audrey was asking her a question and she didn’t know how to reply. she stared at Audrey for a moment and then looked down at the floor, totally silent, not knowing what to say. Audrey realising that she might’ve crossed the line immediately apologised “I’m so sorry Melinda, I shouldn’t have asked such a question, I really am sorry”

“It’s ok, you’re tensed, and you’re panicking, so I understand, but I need you to calm down Audrey, the last thing we need is you having a panic attack” May replied, immediately changing the topic. Audrey nodded her head and leant it back against the wall closing her eyes.

A few minutes later May said “We were”

Audrey snapped open her eyes and looked at her confused.

May explained “Phil and I, we were more than friends”.

“oh” Audrey said, nodding her head.

“We were best friends” May added. “He has been my person, someone who has been there for me throughout, I know that I can be myself when I am around him.” Audrey looked at May who seemed to have been lost in her thoughts “I have never been comfortable in talking,chatting,letting down my guards and being me, but that has never been the case with Phil, he was someone who understood me maybe more than I understood myself. He was my partner, my best friend” May looked up at Audrey with a small smile.

That was the best way she could explain Audrey what she and Phil had, and it was the truth wasn’t it ? That’s what they were, best friends, nothing less and nothing more. She knew that yet she found assuring herself that what she said was the only truth, she felt like she needed to say to herself that what they shared was only to the limits of friendship and nothing more. She then wondered why did she have to reassure herself of that fact ? Did she see her and Phil’s relationship as something much more intimate than friendship ? Maybe before Bahrain had happened, maybe before she became the cold hearted shell of a person, people saw her to be, maybe that would have been a time when they would have had something more, much much more. Maybe that would have been a time when she would have let her heart feel something like love, but that wasn’t her now, neither was she anymore the person she used to be, neither Phil.

She remembered their mission in Siachen, when they had to go undercover as a couple, she knew they had some sparks between them, that they shared a chemistry, they were such good friends and partners for years that they never needed to think twice and acting like a couple seemed to have come naturally to them, as if it was the most common thing in the world. She remembered Phil asking her out on a date after the mission once they were back in New York. She realised that he felt something more in what they had and without even realising why, she had agreed. She had felt it was just 2 friends planning to hang out together, but had found herself feeling nervous about the prospect of going to a date with him, spending time choosing the dress she’d wear, something May never really found herself interested in doing. It was that day while on the drive to the restaurant, they’d got a call from Fury asking them to come to the HQ ASAP, a few hours later, they were dressed in their formal clothes, on a jet flying off to Bahrain.

When she thought of all that now, she realised that they had never gotten a proper chance to be something much more than friends, to be what Audrey and Phil were. Did she want them to be that ? She didn’t know, but the thought came quite naturally to her, as if it was something she had been waiting for to happen. Due to Bahrain, she had changed, she pulled herself back from the outer world, built walls around herself, decided to smile lesser because she didn’t feel she deserved the right to, she never let herself even think again whether she deserved to give a chance to something like love. She remember how Phil had tried for months trying to bring her back to normalcy, spending time with her even when she pushed him away, talking to her constantly about how much he missed her being there as his partner, hoping to see her back some day even after she retired herself to administration. He never gave up on her, he tried, tried to love her even when she hated herself. This thought left her stunned. He was there for her, giving up himself to be there for her, that was his way of showing he loved her and she never gave it a chance. He moved on and she had tried as well. She had gotten married, a marriage that was doomed from the beginning, 6 months later she and Andrew had been signing on divorce paper, she hadn’t shed a single tear on their broken marriage, because she knew it wouldn’t have worked, she had never made the effort. The only times she had found herself smiling was when Phil used to call her from his missions, when he called her to tell how he had seen Captain America, how irritating Tony had been but a good guy at heart, how Clint still played pranks and even had teamed up with Natasha in one, to tell her he had met this beautiful cellist in Portland, someone who made him feel like he was some sort of a super hero. She had been happy for him during all these times and seeing him happy had inadvertently made her happy as well. She remembered the first time she had actually cried after the breakdown she had at her place when everything that had happened in Bahrain had taken a toll on her and Phil had held her through it, the first time she had cried like that was when she was with her mother who was taking her to her place after she had called her from the graveyard Phil had been buried in. That was when she had cried, non stop for what felt like hours, when she had realised that the only person who had helped her hold herself, had been protecting her from crashing, had been killed in the line of duty on the helicarrier in New York. That was the time she couldn’t think of holding herself from breaking anymore because she had been shattered.  
She realised now that she never had to think about whether what they had was more than friendship, because it was never necessary, it had always been more than friendship, for years it had been more, she just hadn’t realised it until now. She might be losing him again thanks to the GH325 effects, and maybe she might not make it alive from here, and she was stuck in a cell, with his girlfriend who thought of him to be dead, and this is now she realised that she had always been in love with Phil Coulson. Life really enjoyed playing a game with her.

Her thoughts came to a halt when the heard someone open the iron door to the room they had been kept in. 

Though in the darkness they couldn’t really see who but could imagine 2 people walking in. One of them looked tall,sturdy, almost like a professional wrestler and May could think that this was maybe one of those guys she had fought, the other guy seemed like any other average fellow. He seemed to have dressed up in a suit, and he walked along with the other guy. The tall one carried something in his hand and May immediately got into the Agent mode, ready to think of way she could attack in case they tried harm them.

“Well hello Agent May, it’s such a pleasure to see you again, how are you ?” the guy in the suit asked.  
May immediately recognised the voice, it belong to none other than the billionaire she had really wanted to kill all those months ago for what he did with Skye, Ian Quinn.

“I could ask you the same, how’s your nose by the way ?” Melinda asked.

“Ha ! sarcasm huh ? let’s see how long you’ll hold up that attitude” Quinn replied.

“What do you want Quinn ?” she asked.

“Oh from you ? Nothing, as far as Coulson’s girlfriend here is concerned..” he trailed off

“If you even think of harming her Quinn, I promise, I’ll finish off the beating I had started that time in the bus” May replied.

“we’ll see that, and don’t worry, I won’t harm her, she is an important asset to us, what we want will automatically come to us now that we have her, and even you as an added bonus” Quinn said.

“What do you mean ?” May asked.

“You’ll find out soon, hopefully, until then we need to keep you alive, you see I’m working for a very dangerous guy and he is a very talented person, I’m sure he’ll love to have ‘The Cavalry’ as a lab rat”

“If he is that dangerous, tell him to come and face me himself and not send out his minions” May replied.

“You see Agent May, this is exactly why we can’t get along ! If it was in my hands I would’ve assured you were dead by now, but it isn’t, anyways my friend here has brought some food for you both, eat it, I don’t want you two dying” Quinn responded.

“SHIELD won’t let you go easily” Audrey said in a small voice.  
“Oh so she speaks as well” Quinn replied with a snort. “SHIELD can do nothing dear, we’re always a step ahead of them”  
“Anyways good bye Agent May, we’ll meet soon and you ..” he said looking at the guy beside him “Open the ropes of that girl, she’ll eat and help out the other one as well” saying this he left the room.

The guy put down a tiny table on the floor that contained a plate with some food and a glass of water. He walked up to Audrey and noticed May fidgeting. He held Audrey by the throat and said “You don’t even try to attack me if you want this girl alive”. May instantly stopped. The guy freed Audrey’s throat and then removed the ropes that had tied up her hands and then left the room locking the iron door back again.

Audrey started coughing out, she could still feel that guy’s grip over her throat.

“You ok ? Drink some water” May told her.

Audrey immediately did as told.

“I’m *cough* *cough* I’m ok” she replied.

“Ok, you should have something to eat first, because you’ll be getting out soon enough” May replied with a smirk on her face.

“Huh ?” Audrey looked at her shocked.


	10. Nostalgia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil feels empty without Melinda by his side.

Coulson was still sitting in his office wondering what to do next. They had no idea where they would’ve taken May and Audrey, moreover the fact that the blood he found belonged to May had him even more worried. He was the director of SHIELD, he was supposed to be organised, calm and composed, and plan what was to be done next, he was anything but that. He was freaking out to be frank, he was worried if May was alive or not, and in case she was alive, to what extent was she injured. Also Audrey was in no way related to SHIELD, and she was in danger too. He need to rescue both of them.

He decided to go downstairs to take a look at Skye who still wasn’t awake,even that had him worried.  
He reached the med bay and walked up to her bedside. He remembered the last time they were in such a situation. Skye was saved by the same drug that brought him back to life, he was happy that atleast Skye wasn’t affected by the symptoms of the drug that he was facing.

“Skye, I need you to wake up, we need to go and save May, bring her back here, alive, we also need to save Audrey, please wake up Skye” he said almost in a whisper.

He looked at Skye. The girl was almost like a kid to him, she reminded him of a young May, daring, a prankster, ready to break rules if needed. She had faced so much at such a young age, yet hadn’t given up hope, even though everything that had happened did change her quite a lot, but she held on to her old self as much as she could. It was the same case with their whole team, ‘their team’, his and Melinda’s. He needed her to be with him, this was their team and he would bring her back at any cost.

The sound of someone’s voice brought him back to the present. He looked to see Skye stirring and immediately went up to the intercom in the room and ordered Jemma and the rest to come up here.

“Skye .. Skye are you alright ?

Jemma rushed in at that moment to check Skye’s vitals.

“Audrey and May, they ..”she tried to reply but was cut off “Shhh.. first let Jemma check out that you’re fine, we’ll talk then” Phil replied.

“That won’t be a problem sir, I’m done” Jemma turned around to look at him, “Her vitals are fine and all she needs is a glass of water right now”

Trip brought her a glass of water and once she finished drinking it, she began to tell them what happened.

“AC, like you might know that when we were about to leave Audrey’s place, Raina came up there. After some verbal confrontation, she brought in 2 sturdy guys, who surprisingly weren’t even affected by ICERs. May told me to escape with Audrey, while she tackled those 2 guys, I tried to follow orders but was stopped outside by Raina and Quinn, who hit me with some serum, I fainted and they took Audrey away.”

“Did they say anything ?” Fitz asked.

“No but seems they are working for some other guy now, a really dangerous guy, they left me back on purpose to convey a message to AC”

“Message ?” Coulson asked.  
“Yeah, they told me to let them know, that you better find them, or else you have no idea what you’d lose” Skye replied. “I’m sorry AC, I should’ve done something..”

“Hey it’s not your fault, you get that, you did your best to help, I’m happy that atleast you’re safe for now” Coulson calmed her down.

“What about May ? Where is she ? she was still inside fighting those guys” Skye asked.

Coulson looked down, he blamed himself for everything that had happened and no one could change that thought.

“We don’t know” he said “by the time we reached there, only you were left, there was no trace of May or Audrey, except May’s blood that we found in the living room”

“Oh my god! I hope she’s alright, we have to get her back AC, I’m sure she’ll be alive, we have to get her back ! ‘You’ have to get her back.” Skye replied.

“We will Skye, I promise we will.”

“Sir I might help you a bit with that, you wanted me to find out how they found out that May and Skye were going to meet Audrey right ?” Fitz asked

“You found out ?” Coulson asked, he was happy they had some way to reach out to the people who took away May and Audrey.

“Sir, we need to go to your office to for that” Fitz replied.

“So what are we waiting for ?” Trip joined in and they all left for Coulson’s office.

As soon as they entered, Fitz went into his pockets and pulled out a USB port.

“Sir, this is the device that was used to hack into the cameras in the playground. Well not exactly this but something like it” Fitz said and continued “Let me show you”.

He asked Koenig to hand him one of the tabs he regularly used, to control the big screen in Coulson’s office.

He opened a USB slot in it and inserted the USB he had, in it. A moment later, he opened up his laptop and signed into a programme. Minutes later they could see the live telecast of the office in his laptop.

“Holy shit” Skye exclaimed. “They entered a virus into the system ?”

“That’s what it seems like” Fitz said.

“But how ?” Koening asked surprised. “If they put it into my tab, I should’ve realised there was a usb wasn’t it ?”

“Yes but it’s not necessary that it was a USB, they could’ve used anything else. Is this the only tab you use to access the big screen in the office ?” Fitz asked.

“Umm No, there are 3, one stays with me and the other with Director and May.” He replied.

“Yes, even I and May have one, wait I’ll get you both.” Coulson replied walking over to his desk. He opened one of the drawers in the desk and brought out a tab.  
“This is mine” he said, handing it over to Fitz. “May’s should be in her bunk, wait I’ll go get it”

“No need for that sir, it’s yours which has been affected”. Fitz answered, opening up a slot in the tab, and pulling out a tiny microchip from it using forceps.

“I don’t .. I ..” Coulson was lost for words. He had no idea when this had happened. He was the Director of SHIELD wasn’t he ? He was supposed to be careful, how come something like this happened and he didn’t find out, and now his carelessness was about to cost them May and Audrey’s life.

“Actually it might be my fault sir” Keonig replied.  
Everybody looked at him awaiting his reply.  
“Sir a month back, when Agent May had managed to get hold of 2 HYDRA agents, I was taking them to Vault C,to have them kept there till we handed them over to the government” He continued “I had taken your tab to access Vault C, and while leaving them in lockup, one of them tried to push me and run away. He was caught by the security we had before escaping, but I guess the tab fell from my hand for a moment there, and that’s when the other guy must’ve inserted the chip”

“You should’ve taken care Eric” Coulson said

“I am so sorry sir, I really am sorry” He replied.

“Right now we have to concentrate on getting them back” Coulson replied.

“So are they seeing us right now ?” Trip asked.

“Umm no, I managed to intercept their signal for sometime” Fitz answered and continued “But to stop them totally, we would need a computer expert” they all turned to look at Skye.

“So what are we waiting for ? Let’s get May back” Skye said.  
Even in this tense moment Coulson couldn’t help but smile back, they really had a great team, a team that would not give up till they got May back. They were a family, and family takes care of each other.Once May was back he was going to tell her how hard these kids had worked to bring her back, she’d be really proud of them.

After a few minutes Skye said “Ok AC, I’d need you to enter the password, so I can access some of the old footage from the security camera here in the office, seems you decided to keep it secured” Skye said.

Coulson walked up to Skye and taking the laptop from her hand entered the password he and May had set, so that apart from them no one else to take a sneak peak into what was happening in Coulson’s office. Not that he didn’t trust his team with the discussions that happened there, but they couldn’t risk them finding about some stuff he and May had decided to keep a secret from the team for now, things like his hypergraphia, they couldn't afford the team catching him carving into the wall he had kept hidden behind the big screen, so May had decided that apart from her and Coulson himself, no one could access the cameras. May always had taken care of him, protected him, made his secrets, hers. She understood his reasons for not telling the team about his symptoms, and irrespective of whether she agreed with them or not, she accepted because it was his choice. He didn’t know whether it was just her loyalty towards him that made her do all this, or maybe her friendship, but she was one person he could never afford losing. She mattered way too much to him.

“Done” Skye replied. He turned to look at the girl who had a smile on her face. “I managed to override the code of the virus, and then replaced the output signal with the signals of an old clip of this office, when it was empty. So if they try to take a look, all they would see would be an empty office”

“Couldn’t you just stop the signals totally ?” Jemma asked.

“I can, but this is even better, because they wouldn’t suspect that we found out, also once we reach an approximate location I can reverse and use the transmitting signals to track the place where they’re coming from. I will try and find out now, but it’ll give us a faint idea only and not the exact location” she said.

“Great job Skye” Trip said. “Sir if we find an approximate area, even then we can go there and start searching”

“Yes, get to work Skye, find out as much as you can about the place” Coulson replied.

“It’s gonna take me time though” Skye said “but I’ll try be as fast as I can”

Coulson nodded and left the office. He walked over the corridor and entered May’s bunk. May never really liked anyone entering her bunk without her permission, but right now he was really missing her, and wanted to have anything that would remind him of her

He opened the door to her bunk and glanced inside. He remembered the last time he was here, it was when the carving had begun. He’d found himself in the garage, having drawn insane designs on the wall, he didn’t know who to talk to about it, and the first name that had come to his mind was Melinda. He realised he had never really visited her room casually. Melinda was someone who wanted to keep her life private, didn’t appreciate people visiting her here, but that wasn’t the reason he hadn’t come here before, he never had really thought of doing so. Ever since she had been back on the field, they had never really spent any fun-filled moments, he thought of the time she had offered to go a few rounds like the old days, he should’ve taken up on the offer, he never really won against Melinda when sparring, but he really enjoyed doing that, he wondered whether he would ever get the chance to do that again, he diminished the thought immediately. Ever since she joined this team of his, he had put her through so much. She first had to go back into the field as a specialist,then he had put her through that time when she was reminded of Bahrain because of the Tobias Incident, to add to that he even thought of her to be HYDRA and blamed her, and then told her he didn’t trust her anymore. Yet she had forgiven him for that, she continued to have his back and keep him safe. She never cared for herself, she only cared about him, he felt he didn’t deserve someone like her. He could never forgive himself if anything had happened to her.

The room was very much like May, she was never a fan of too much stuff. She just had a few pictures, some antiques, a sword that was gifted by her grandpa, a letter framed on the wall, which was the last letter her dad had written to her. She was a simple person. He sat on her bed for a moment and thought ‘come back Melinda, Please’. He didn’t even realise his eyes had been filled up, his voice was choking. He looked at the stool beside her bed and found a photo frame, it contained a pic they had taken during their graduation party in the academy. A shy Felix Blake standing beside the extrovert Isabelle Hartley, beside them was him, wearing a White Captain America T-Shirt, and he was carrying none other than Melinda May on his back. She had injured herself 2 days before their graduation, thanks to a stupid revenge prank by someone, which was actually set for him, but resulted in her getting injured. She was resting her head on his shoulder, while he held her tightly. The smile on her face was beautiful, serene and calm, their faces fresh, not yet marked by scars of wars and deaths. She used to be so beautiful, well to be frank, she was equally beautiful even now, but she had a certain kind of innocence, and childishness in her. Others in the academy never realised it, but he was someone who had the opportunity to see Melinda throw pranks, act like a stubborn kid over who gets the first bite of the chocolate cake, throw a tantrum till he finally put the movie she wanted. He found himself smiling at the thought, May used to be so different and time had changed her so much,circumstances had changed her so much, he himself was a part of those circumstances.

He wished if he could get a chance with May again, a chance to speak to her again, he wanted to thank her for everything she had done and continued to do for him.He wanted to apologise for continuing to demand so much from her and not asking about how it affected her, for allowing her to push him away after she returned from Bahrain and not being stubborn to be there for her even when she refused. They were supposed to be going on a date, he was going to tell her that he saw her more than as a friend, he was going to ask her if she would like to date him, but instead they got a phonecall from Fury and everything had changed after that, he never got a chance to spend more than a few hours with May until she joined him on the bus. Now he wasn’t certain that May was alive, he wasn’t certain whether he will ever get a chance to spend time with her again. She was his partner, his best friend, his support system, his escape from the world around him that was crashing into bits every single day, she was someone who mattered a lot to him, a lot, and in the current situation, she was someone who mattered to him more than anything in the world. He didn’t feel guilty to think at the current moment that she mattered to him maybe even more that Audrey. Audrey was sweet, petite, caring, he loved her but she wasn’t Melinda May.

The sudden ring of his phone broke his rail of thought. He was immediately attentive. This was the no. only Melinda had access to, to contact him when he was out recruiting new members, there was no way anyone else would contact him on this no.

He immediately flipped open the phone to see some unknown no. displayed on the screen.

“Hello” he said, voice clearly filled with panic.  
“Hello, please I need help here” a female voice on the other side said, voice equally panicking if not more. “I know this is a SHIELD no., I really need you to come, before they come and catch me” she said.  
“We’ll be there in a moment, please hide near any secure place that you find” Coulson replied.  
“There’s a shed here, I’ll be hiding there, this voice .. it sounds like ..”she tried to say something but was cut off by Coulson.  
“Agent Triplett and Agent Simmons will be coming for you, you’ve met them before” after a moment’s pause he added “Stay safe” and he cut the call to go into his office. He couldn’t believe his ears when the other person had called. He had a very tough choice to make.

As soon as he entered his office Skye said, “Sir i’ve managed to trace the city from where the signals were coming from”

“No need for that Skye, we have a location, I just got a call few seconds back, I need you to trace it. “

“Was it the kidnappers sir ?”Trip asked.

“No, it was Audrey” he replied.


	11. Flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was Audrey that called Phil. Then what happened to May ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read the ending of the previous chapter to find some sort of continuity. I don't own AoS or Marvel. Just a big fan. 
> 
> This is more like a filler chapter :)

As soon as he entered his office Skye said, “Sir i’ve managed to trace the city from where the signals were coming from”

“No need for that Skye, we have a location, I just got a call few seconds back, I need you to trace it. “

“Was it the kidnappers sir ?”Trip asked.

“No, it was Audrey” he replied.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

1 Hour back  
=========

“What do you mean Melinda ? You have found a way to escape ?” Audrey asked.

“More like the way itself came our way” Melinda replied.

“What is it ?” Audrey asked, excitement evident in her voice. Of course she’d be excited, she was a civilian, she wasn’t supposed to be involved in all this mess.

“First of all I need you to listen what I say, in case we both don’t succeed in escaping, you have to promise me that you will run and not wait for me”

“But Melinda, I cannot do that, no I won’t leave you here, if they find out they’ll…” she was cut off by May

“No! Listen, I am an Agent, I will manage, this anyways is just a case we both don’t escape. Please, you have to promise not to wait for me.” She replies sternly.

“Melinda .. I” Audrey tried to argue.

“For Phil, Let me do this for Phil, Audrey” May replied knowing Audrey won’t be able to refuse that.

Audrey nodded her head. May knew that this was necessary, if they had kidnapped Audrey, their obvious aim was to bring out Coulson. She couldn’t think of any other reason for which they would kidnap her. She also thought that if they had left Skye back it was because they wanted Coulson to find where they were and she needed to make sure they didn’t succeed.

“Ok, first clear of all the contents on this table” May told Audrey and she did as asked.

“Now listen to me carefully, the rope they had used to tie your hands with, I need you to tie it tightly to one end of this table.” May continued giving orders and Audrey followed. ‘She really is a brave girl’ May thought to herself.

“Now stand up” Audrey followed the orders and helped May stand up as well.

Once they reached the wall where the window opening was situation at some height, May told her “Ok now I need you to use all the strength you have to throw this table into that window”

Audrey nodded hastily and got to work. After one or two unsuccessful tries, she finally succeeded.

“Good job” May said with a small smirk on her face. “Now try pull the rope to see it if holds or not” Audrey checked and confirmed it did.

“Now listen to me Audrey” May said in a stern voice. She was going to tell her something very important. Audrey looked at her attentively. If she survived today, she’d owe her life to Melinda.

“I’m going to tell you a number. I need you to not forget it at any cost, you get that ?” May said.

Audrey continued to keep her gaze fixed on May attentively.

May told her the no. that she knew only Phil would answer. No one else knew that no., and Phil would answer it at any cost. She worried for a moment what would happen if Phil answered the call and if Audrey recognised, but then that was the only way she could contact SHIELD. She was confident that Skye would track the location from where the call came.

“Once you escape from here, I need you to run as far as you can, try not to get caught, find any public call booth and dial this no. and whoever answers this, trust that person and follow what they say ok?”

Audrey nodded. “You need to convey a message to that person once you meet them Audrey, you need to tell them NOT to come for me, that is the whole plan of these people, to get those SHIELD agents to come here, they will be risking their lives and I will not allow that to happen, so tell them not to come for me at any cost you get that ?” May asked.

“But Melinda..”

“No! Do you get that Audrey ?” May asked again a bit more strictly.

Audrey nodded her head, her eyes filling up, Phil was right, SHIELD will protect the innocent at any cost and May was the proof of that, she didn’t think once about herself but was concentrated on saving Audrey.

“Ok, now start climbing, all the best Audrey, take care, don’t give up, keep running and escape, you’re a good person” May said with a small smile on her face. She meant every word she had said. Audrey was indeed a very good person. Phil made the right choice, if he had been with her instead of Audrey, she would have pulled him into the vacuum that formed in her life post Bahrain, Audrey was someone who spread happiness and Phil deserved that.

Audrey jumped up to reach the rope but wasn’t really successful. May got down on her knees and told her to use her as a stool to climb up. Though hesitant at first Audrey did as told as she realised there was no use arguing with Melinda, even though she knew the injury May had would make this painful . Once she did, May said  
“Listen to me, Grab the rope with both hands above your head.Pull down on the rope while jumping a bit.” Audrey did as said and was successful to lift herself into the air.

“Loop your foot within the rope and reach up as high as possible with your arms and grip the rope tightly and releasing your foot lift your knees upto your stomach pull yourself up. Repeat it till you reach the top, once you do that pull up the rope and throw it to the other side and climb down slowly after you make sure the perimeter is clear.” May instructed her with the steps to follow.

Audrey started to do as she said, and even though it took her a while, she finally managed to succeed to reach the opening on the wall.

“Is everything clear?” May asked.

“yes, I don’t see anyone outside. It seems we’re inside a building.” Audrey replied.

“Ok be careful and escape” May replied. “Remember to call the no. I gave you, only them and no one else”

“Thank you Melinda, for everything” Audrey replied, a sad smile on her face. She had grown fond of this woman, who didn’t hesitate to put her own life at risk for protecting her instead.

May looked up at her and gave a smile. She said “Audrey, when you meet the team, thank them from my side, especially the head. Tell him that i’m grateful for everything he did for me.”  
Audrey followed the rest of the orders and climbed down the wall. As soon as she did, she realised that there was nothing much surrounding the area, a lake at a distance and lots of trees surrounding the place the building was situated in.

She managed to throw back the rope inside hoping May would use it to escape, but as ordered by May continued to run from there.  
As soon as she reached the exit of the compound she was kept in, she heard some voices, and tried to run as fast as she could.

As soon as May saw the rope fall back inside she realised that Audrey might’ve been successful in escaping. She prayed that she would be successful in contacting Phil, and that Phil would listen to her and not come after May.

Audrey ran as fast as she could. She wasn’t going to give up now, Melinda had tried so hard to save her life and she would do as asked.  
She saw a small hideout and hid there, till those people following her crossed the place and went ahead. She carefully looked outside and not finding anyone ran away to find a public telephone booth.

When May heard the lock of the door to the room open she had a smirk on her face. She had been successful in saving Audrey or so she hoped.

“Agent May, I’m surprised with your tactics, when I heard you were a great agent, I wasn’t really sure of your capabilities, but now I am” A voice that had a different accent caught her ears except for the moonlight, the room had no other source of lighting.

“Oh I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Sunil Bakshi, an Agent of HYDRA” the man walked into the light and May could recognise him to be of Asian descent, maybe South Asia.

“Well I was told by Raina and Ian Quinn that you were called ‘the cavalry’, thought the name was over-rated, but now I realise why.”

“Don’t ever call me that” May replied.

“Oh you don’t really like the name do you ? Ok then. I must say though you managed to let that girl escape but do you really think Director Coulson wouldn’t come back for you ?, I heard you speak about him, seems what you shared was very intimate” Bakshi said. 

‘Don’t you even dare taken his name on your lips, you can’t harm Coulson, not as long as I’m here” May replied back sternly.

“We’ll see to that, as of now, Hydra would love to have someone like you on our side, don’t worry, our boss is a really talented doctor, he’d love to see what present we’ve got for him”

May snorted “You really think I would work for you ? Even give it a shot and I’ll kick you ass”

“Ahaa ! You’re that confident ? Don’t worry Agent May, you will work for us, we will make you comply” Bakshi answered.

A moment later, one of the guys came in and forcibly tried to take May with him, when May refused to move, he punched May near her previous wound, making her hiss in pain, before she could realise, she was losing her consciousness. The last thing she heard was Bakshi saying “Take her to med bay and have her stitched up again, before you bring her to Dr.Whitehall”

 

Here after a running as much as she could Audrey managed to find a public phone booth. Remembering the number May had told she called, as soon as the voice answered, she was caught surprised. It sounded like him. As if it was Phil on the other side speaking to her. After speaking to him, she did as he asked and went into the shed she had found there.


	12. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Audrey and Phil come face to face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't own Marvel or AoS. Just a big fan:)

“We’ll be reaching Bedford in an hour, I found a place and we can park there without being seen” Trip’s voice was heard over the comms.

Phil was nervous, not only because he’d have to meet Audrey and explain to her about him being alive, but also because she was the only person who could tell him if May was alive or not. He found himself worrying more about May than Audrey, maybe it was because he knew Audrey was fine or because he didn’t know if May was fine. He wondered why it was Audrey that had called him and not May. If Audrey had the number, then it was obvious May had given it to her, then why didn’t she herself call ? Was she ok ? Was she injured ? Was she … ‘No!” he thought to himself, he couldn’t afford even thinking that something might’ve happened to her. She meant way too much for him, he didn’t know what it was, was it because she was his best friend,his partner, he didn’t know, he just knew that he couldn’t imagine any future at the moment that didn’t have May beside him.

“You ok?” Skye asked.

“Huh ?” Coulson looked up from his desk to see Skye standing at the door. She walked in to sit on the couch and asked him to join her there.

He loosened his tie and went up to join her. Skye couldn’t help but see the dark circles forming under his eyes, He looked so weary and worn down. Like he had almost given up on himself. She had known how much Audrey mattered to him, but he knew she was safe now, still he looked extremely sad, there was only one reason for that and that was because of May. She had seen how close he and May were, the team didn’t tease them by calling them ‘mom and dad’ for no reason, it was always because they were a team, they were partners, without May, Coulson was incomplete, as if a part of him was missing. After talking with May, Skye had realised that May was in love with Coulson and seeing Coulson she realised Coulson had feelings for May too, even though he might not acknowledge it, he did, he just needed to realise.

Coulson sighed as he sat into the couch.  
Skye rested her hand on his shoulder and said “She’ll be fine”  
“I know” Coulson replied.  
“She is a brave woman, and she called you, so you know she’s fine” Skye asked, knowing that he was thinking about May but just testing him to see his reply.

“Sorry ?” he asked as he looked up at her confused.

“Audrey” Skye replied.

“Oh yeah.. yeah, she’s fine” Coulson replied.

“But you don’t look relieved” Skye commented.

“Of course I am, I’m happy she’s fine but right now ..” he paused before continuing “Right now I’m more worried about May, the no. Audrey called to, only May knew that, I wonder why she didn’t call, I hope she’s ok” Coulson replied.  
“Hey, she’s gonna be fine, She’s May afterall” Skye said in a reassuring tone. Even though her heart knew that May was fine, and she’d believe in that, somewhere in the corner of her mind she struggled to logically accept that possibility. She knew those guys were dangerous, and that May would go to any extremes to protect Audrey, she also knew that the fact that Audrey had called and not May, this meant that May wasn’t fine, but she couldn’t think that, she was the optimistic one in the group, she had to believe things were going to be okay, she had grown fond of May over the time, she had a great deal of respect for the woman professionally, and the way she cared about the whole team made Skye admire her even more, but in the last few hours they had spent together, the journey they had on the way to Portland, her admiration for Melinda May as a person grew to a new height. There was this woman, who was risking her whole life protecting the girlfriend of the guy she was in love with. Skye realised that very few people like Melinda May would exist on this planet earth. She had realised how much May was in love with Coulson and cursed fate and every possible higher power out there for not even giving May the chance to tell Coulson of her feelings, he deserved to know that May felt the same way about him as he seemed to feel about May. Skye couldn’t help but think of these 2 people in wonder. These 2 people who spent every moment of their lives caring about the other, loving the other and yet not realising that they were in love. The team did have a weird set of Mom and Dad.

“You know, I never believe in god and stuff, but I will pray for May, and hope that she’ll be fine” she said to Coulson, hoping to convey her concern to him.

Coulson looked up at her and smiled “You remind me so much of May at times” he said.

“Believe me, I can’t ever be like her, it requires a lot of guts to be Melinda May” Skye replied with a sad smile.

“Yeah it does, but the way you care about your team, and seeing that you’re here wanting to make sure I’m fine, reminds me very much of her” He replied.

“You’ve thought about how you’ll meet Audrey ?” Skye asked.

Coulson shook his head. “Don’t know how she’ll react, but she’s our only way to reach to May, and if saving May requires me telling Audrey I’m alive, I’m ready to take that risk” he said.

“Hmm.. you just need to be honest with her and yourself” Skye said getting up.

Coulson for a second was confused by her statement. Honest with himself ? what did that mean he thought.

“What if we’re unable to save her ?” he asked almost in a whisper.  
Skye stopped at the door and turned back to look at him.

“I can’t think of the team without May, I can’t afford to lead SHIELD without May” he said.

“You don’t have to, she always has your back remember ? she won’t leave you” Skye replied and left his office closing the door.

Skye was right, Melinda always had his back, she was always there to protect him and now he would return back the favour and ensure that she was fine, and then he was going to tell her to take a vacation, maybe arrange one for her himself, maybe somewhere in the Australian Outback, he didn’t know if Melinda liked it but he loved Kangaroos, so maybe they could take a break and visit the place. She would need time to recover, and she needed a break, he would make sure she wouldn’t stress herself much, and tell her that he’d have her back just like she did his, always. He wanted her there beside him, as long as they were in-charge of SHIELD and even after that. They were going to rebuild SHIELD from scratch together, there was no way he would do it without her beside him, because she was the most important person in his life.

Right now he also had another issue to tackle. Audrey, the woman he cared so much about, Audrey had thought of him to have been dead, and now she was going to meet him, he couldn’t hide while the team spoke to her because he was the director and it was important that he met her face to face, she obviously had heard him over the phone and must have had her doubts, she would obviously be confused as to why she was targeted and the answer to all her doubts would be he himself. He was very much alive and it was time Audrey would find out about that.  
Even in this tense situation, he did feel nervous, not because of the reunion he was going to have with Audrey, but meeting Audrey would tell him if May was alive or not. At the same time he felt guilty about what he put Audrey through, and he wasn’t sure she’d ever forgive him. He did love her very much, she was a nice, warm and caring person, and he really did love her, but right now his concern was May only.

“We’ll be there in five, better buckle up” Trip said over the comms. Even hearing Trip’s voice over the comms instead of May’s felt awkward. It was like May had become a sort of a habit for him. Hearing her voice, seeing her, talking to her, it was routine for him, she was a part of his life.

He walked over to the hangar, where the whole team was buckled up and set. They all looked at him when he came to join them. Even though they wouldn’t say but he understood well that they were sympathising with him. If something would happen to May, he would be responsible for managing these bunch of kids. Not that they weren’t good, they were great indeed, but with May it felt easier, simpler.

He buckled up and was ready to face whatever would happen.

Soon after they had landed on a stranded piece of land where they were quite sure they wouldn’t be caught.  
They unbuckled soon enough and once Trip came out from the cockpit, Phil said “Ok, I told Audrey, that Trip and Jemma would be coming to meet her, she’s met you before so she’ll feel safe, I want Skye to join in as well because she can help with tracking and she was there when the incident happened. I want Fitz to get the Med Bay ready in case she is injured or if May ..” He trailed off, unsure how to continue.

“May will be fine sir” Fitz said. “She’s going to be ok” he added.  
Phil looked at him and nodded. “I need you guys to take care, don’t tell Audrey about me being here, and don’t interrogate her on the way, she needs to first come here and checked out by Jemma to ensure she’s mentally in a sound state”

They nodded and left in the SUV.

It didn’t take them long to track the area from where the call was received. As soon as they reached the Phone booth Skye said “This is where the call came from, Audrey should be somewhere near by”

Jemma added “ Well she told the Director, that she will hide in a shed here somewhere”

They started to search for it and finally Trip managed to find it.  
Carefully approaching the shed, guns ready, to ensure that the enemy doesn’t have an upper hand in case they’re there inside, Skye opened the door.

“Audrey ?” Skye said softly. Since it was already early morning, the early sunrise began to shed some light into the shed.  
“Skye looked around to see Audrey lying on the floor near one corner.

“She’s there” Skye whispered to Trip and Jemma. While Trip went around to check the shed, to see of any traces of May or any Hydra spies, Skye and Jemma approached Audrey.

Carefully shaking Audrey to help her wake up Skye said “Hey Audrey ? It’s Skye, you ok ?”

Audrey awoke with a startle. She had been terrified if it were some enemies but on seeing Skye’s face, she calmed down immediately and gave her a tight hug.  
Skye hugged to woman back to assure she was fine. Audrey was obviously scared, and when she was shuddering, Skye realised she must’ve been crying.

“Shh.. hey it’s ok, we’re here, you’re ok, calm down” she said.

Nodding her head Audrey moved away from Skye wiping her tears.  
“I’m sorry it’s just that I thought..” she tried to say something but was cut off by Jemma “it’s ok, we understand. I need to check your vitals to make sure you’re fine for now ok?”

Audrey nodded. Jemma quickly started checking her BP, vision, temperature etc. While Skye stood up to walk over to Tripp who she saw coming in.

“Any sign of May ?” she asked.  
“None” he said shaking his head sadly. “I looked around everywhere, to see if there was any sign or something but no” he added.

“Oh, I can ask Audrey, but she seemed petrified with what has happened, so I think we should wait till we take her back to the bus” Skye replied.

“I think we should take her to the bus” Jemma added. Her vitals are ok, but she’s dehydrated, and needs to eat something as soon as possible, also I need to do a blood test, to ensure she wasn't injected with some serum or something”

Skye and Tripp nodded.

Audrey tried to stand up but her legs gave in and she was about to topple, but Tripp managed to get hold of her to save her from falling. Taking Trip as a support, they walked back to the SUV.

Once they started on their journey back to the bus, Audrey said on the way “Melinda is alive”

The team looked at her surprised. They were glad that May was alive, a happiness they couldn’t estimate but the tone in which Audrey had said that, left them confused. It sounded sad.

“She is ?” Jemma asked, excitement in her voice.

“She was when I escaped but…” Audrey trailed off.

“But what ?” Skye asked, nervousness clearly evident with the way she said it.

“She’s very badly injured and I wonder once they find out I escaped, what they might do to her” Audrey said.

This had the team worried. They could go back in search of May, check the areas nearby, but Audrey seemed to be fading, and they didn’t have any idea about the area, also they had to wait for Director’s orders.

“She’ll be fine, she’s May” Skye said.  
Audrey nodded her head slowly and seemed to have gone into a state of unconsciousness.  
“She’s badly dehydrated” Jemma said and then asked “How long before we reach Tripp?”

“Almost there” Trip answered.

They reached the hangar which had been kept open, and Phil was standing there. As soon as he saw the car come in, his nervousness reached a new height, not only would he be meeting Audrey after 2 years when she thought he was dead, he also didn’t have any idea how May was.

The car stopped and Trip and Skye stepped out from the front seats. When the back door opened and Jemma stepped out, he got nervous. There was no trace of Audrey or May yet. A moment later the other door opened and Phil felt as if the team could literally hear his heartbeat. As soon as the other door opened and Audrey stepped out of it, he could feel relief washing over him. Audrey turned to look and her face went pale, as if she had seen a ghost.

“Phil ..” she said before losing her consciousness. She crumbled onto the floor, and Phil along with Skye and Jemma rushed up to her.

“We need to take her to the med bay” Jemma said.  
“Yes sir we should” Tripp added but Phil refused to move, he was holding Audrey tightly but his eyes were scanning the SUV, looking for someone else. Skye realising what rather who he was looking for, put her hand on his shoulder to bring him back to attention. He looked at her, his eyes asking his questions for him. Skya gave a sad smile and shook her head. He dropped his head and then looked at Audrey who was lying in his arms. The woman with whom he had been in love was here in his arms, safe and sound, yet he felt empty, as if someone had sucked out life from him.  
“We really need to get moving, start her on a fluids” Jemma said.  
He looked up at Jemma, tears threatening to fill his eyes. He lifted Audrey from the floor in his arms and carried her to the med bay.

As soon as he laid Audrey in the med-bay, Jemma asked if they all could leave her alone here for a moment, to check on Audrey and ensure she is ok. The team nodded their heads and turned around to find no trace of Phil Coulson there.

“I’ll go talk to him” Skye said.  
Skye checked Coulson’s office but he wasn’t there, she checked his bunk but he wasn’t there either. She knew there were only 2 more places he’d be at, and one of them seemed more likely.

Without knocking she entered the cockpit, to see Coulson sitting in the co-pilot’s seat holding his head in his hands.  
He seemed distraught and broken. It hurt to see him like this. He was their leader, someone they looked up to, he was their dad-figure, the one who’d crack stupid jokes and not sit like this after giving up.

“She’s alive” Skye said.  
“Yeah, Jemma is checking up on her” He replied softly. His voice was choking up.  
“No I mean May, she’s alive” Skye said.

He jerked to look at her. Eyes wide open, shock clearly evident on his face.  
“But ..” he tried to say something.  
“She is alive but we didn’t find her, while on our journey back here Audrey said that she was alive” Skye explained.  
“You mean Audrey and May..” Phil asked  
“Yup, they were kept together where they were captured” Skye said.  
“That means once, Audrey is up, we can go find her” He said, his voice clearly indicating how happy he was to know that May was alive,  
“Hmm ..” Skye said looking somewhere into the space near her.  
“What ?” Coulson asked, Skye didn’t seem cheerful, which meant there was more to it.  
“Audrey also said that she wasn’t sure for how long she’d be, she told that May was very badly injured and that the kidnappers might not let her stay alive once they found out Audrey had escaped” Skye said sadly.

He felt as if someone hit a punch in his stomach. He lost what Skye was saying soon after she mentioned May was badly injured. Seeing Audrey’s condition right now he could understand somewhat as to what they had gone through, Audrey looked so pale and dehydrated, and if May was injured then she’d be worse, what if it was too late before they reach her ?

“We can’t give up we have to find her, we can’t just..” he replied panicking, when Jemma called him down to the lab.

Audrey woke up, stirring to the noise around her. She slowly opened her eyes because the sudden burst of light after spending such a long time in pitch darkness made her feel like she was going to go blind, she felt like she was having a migraine.

“Am I dead ?” she asked, her voice still raspy. She tried to sit up but was told by Jemma not to.  
“Why do you ask that ?” Jemma asked, surprised by the first question she had.  
“I think I saw Phil” she said, drinking water from the cup Jemma handed to her. “maybe it was a hallucination again” she followed up to complete her statement.

“About that Ms. Nathan ..” Jemma tried to say but was cut off by the voice that came from the door.

“You’re not dead Aud, you’re alive” Phil said from the doorway. To be frank, he could let the team handle Audrey and not come out in front of her, but he needed to end this game once and for all, and Audrey was his only way to reach out to Melinda.

As soon she heard the voice, she sat up suddenly, wincing in pain as her IVs needles pricked. She saw Coulson there,alive, and felt a surge of emotions, she couldn’t say if she was happy or angry, at the same time she felt as if she was in a dream land, as if her thought that she herself was dead was very much true, because Phil had died, she had visited his grave, then how could he be here, in front of her, breathing and alive. She didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know if she wanted to cry or burst out at him in anger. She was dumbfounded.

The team had left them alone in the med bay, and Phil slowly closing the door walked up to her.

Finally gathering the courage to speak, while tears threatened to fall she asked “You really are ..?”

He nodded his head immediately in reply. “I’m sorry I couldn’t..” He tried to say but was cut off by her “How could you ? how could you do this to me ? I thought you were dead, do you even know how much your death had affected me ? How could you do this ?” by now she was crying, unable to hold her emotions any longer.  
“I saw your grave, I cried for days, I gave up all hope, I was broken because you died and now you tell me that it was all a lie ?” she shouted out and then buried her face into his chest as she cried.  
“I know my answer will sound pretty lame but it’s true Aud, I had no option but to lie, I couldn’t afford coming out in the public as being alive, I did die, but I was brought back to life using some very different methods, I can’t tell you anything more, but SHIELD couldn’t afford letting anyone know of it, and I didn’t want to risk your life, you were moving on, so I had to stay dead in your opinion” he replied.

“So that time when your team came to save me from Daniels and I thought I saw you it was ..” She looked up at him and he nodded in reply answering her question that it was indeed him there.

“It’s always about SHIELD isn’t it ? You couldn’t tell me you were alive, how could you Phil ?” with her voice he could tell that her anger had receded a bit, she would never forgive him but she didn’t hate him.

“I’m sorry” he said and she hugged him tight, burying her head into his chest letting the tears fall. He wrapped his arms around her, to comfort her while she cried.

The team looked at the sight from outside, and couldn’t feel any less emotional than what they felt now. It had finally come to an end, Audrey knew Coulson was alive and Coulson didn’t need to hide himself from her anymore.

“I’m glad he could finally tell her he’s alive” Jemma said. When she got no reply she turned back to see Skye and Fitz have a very different expression on their face.

“What happened ?” Jemma asked.

“Nothing” Skye replied quickly.

“We need to work on finding May” Fitz added.

“Yeah, they have plenty of time to discuss this later but we need to get May back" Skye said.  
Skye and Fitz looked at each other, Fitz realised that Skye had understood by what he had meant the day before on the bus. The way he had realised May was in love with Phil, even Skye had now.

Jemma looked at them and was left confused, but they were right, May should be their first priority right now.

Once Audrey had calmed down Phil said “I need you to tell me what happened there Aud”

Nodding she started to tell them what had transpired between her capture along with Melinda there.

After finishing off Coulson asked “ Was May ..” his voice broke in between “is she badly injured ?”

“she was pierced through with glass, then she was stitched up but quite badly, with the intent of keeping her alive for the moment, those guys kept talking about her as a lab experiment, I don’t know what they meant”

Coulson could feel the color go of his face, what were they planning to do to May ?

“If they found out I escaped, they would definitely attack May and I believe by now they would have ..” Audrey added.

“You need to tell me as much as you can remember about the place, we need to go save May” Coulson said coming into his director mode, he needed to save May at any cost.

“Melinda told to me to specifically tell you not to come looking for her, she said that was their plan, to lure you there Phil” Audrey said. Phil opened his mouth to protest, obviously May would say that, but he didn’t matter more than May.

“But I still want you to go after her” Audrey added before he could say anything. “She didn’t hesitate for a single second before risking her life to save me, and the way she spoke of you …” Audrey trailed off. “You need to go find her Phil” Audrey said.

Phil nodded his head. He was going to find May at any cost, even if he had to do it alone. Obviously they had kidnapped May and Audrey to lure him in, maybe it was the GH drug in him that was at play, it didn’t matter. He needed to save May.

“You need to tell us what you remember about the place” Skye said joining in on the conversation. “and before you say anything sir, we are not going to stay back but we’ll join you in saving May, we owe much more than our lives to her” Fitz added.

He looked at the rest of his team who nodded their heads. He felt so proud, once they save May he was going to tell her how great these kids were, she’d be so proud of them.

“Well I don’t remember much because I was pretty scared and was mainly focussed on running away, but yes it was a building, quite an old one, I saw a lake there. It was early morning so I could recognise it to be a lake, May had told me to only call you from a public booth so I ran to wherever I could till I found one.

“A lake that’s a big clue” Fitz said immediately taking out his tab began to search. “There’s a lake in Barren County, a bit far from the telephone booth from where Audrey called” Fitz replied soon after.  
“That must be it, let’s get there” Skye added.  
“Koenig and Fitz, I need you guys to stay here with Audrey” Phil said.  
“But sir..” Fitz tried to say something but was cut off by Phil.  
“Not just that Fitz, Audrey told us May is critically injured, I need Jemma to come with us for immediate care, but just in case we’ll need the med-bay set for any major immediate procedure before we take May back to the playground, I’ll need you both to set that up”

Fitz and Koenig nodded. Fitz to be frank really wanted to join the team in going on the mission to bring back May, but he understood the situation, he knew that protecting May and bringing her back safe to the bus was their main aim here, if he went with the team, taking his current condition into consideration he might end up being a burden and he didn’t want that, he decided he would do whatever he could in his best way possible, which was to stay back and make sure everything was set for her once she was back here.

“Remember you said you could get the actual location from where the camera was being used, once we were in the vicinity ? Will it work once we’re near the lake ?” Phil asked.

Skye turned around to Audrey to ask “Do you remember how long it took you to reach the lake from the building ?”

“I don’t exactly remember the route I ran in but it took me around 15 minutes or so” Audrey replied.

“That’ll do AC” Skye replied looking back at Coulson.

“Ok, I need to you keep everything ready, because we might not know what’ll be waiting for us and we really can’t afford much delays” Coulson told her.

“AC what about the guys we’ll deal there, they aren’t affected by the ICERs and we don’t know how many such people will be there” Skye asked curiously.

“That’s why we’re going to use the real stuff, Koenig, I need you to load the van with stuff we might need, Trip you too” Coulson added.

“Sir, I can somewhat help you with that” Fitz chipped in.

“How ?” Coulson asked.

“Sir when Jemma and I realised that those guys weren’t affected by the dendrotoxin in the ICERs, we tried to compare the components in it with that in the centipede serum that we had obtained. We realised that they had found a way to counteract the toxin from the ICER and thus were able to stay back, the serum will manage to counteract it always, so instead we used a similar element from ‘Chironex fleckeri’, also called Box Jellyfish, and managed to synthesize a new variety of serum, that is capable enough to counteract the effect of anti-dendrotoxin and have a much dangerous impact” Fitz rambled.

“Ok, so you have prepared the guns for us then ?” Coulson asked, not understanding a word of what they said but just that it was better than ICERs.

“Umm .. about that” Jemma said and added “In the limited amount of time, we were able to prepare only 5 bouts of it, and we have only 2 guns capable of carrying it. The impact will be great, there’s no way one can easily recover from it” she finished.

Coulson nodded his head, “Ok give it” he said.

Once Fitz handed him the guns, he took it and decided to talk to Audrey once before he leaves.

“Take care” she said and continued “Don’t die again” she completed with a sad smile on her face.  
“I can’t really guarantee that” Coulson replied.  
“I know, just be careful” she said.  
He nodded his head and said “I’m sorry again, I didn’t want you dragged into this mess, but I really need to go now” he came over to give Audrey a hug.  
“I know, you have to bring back Melinda, she’s important” Audrey whispered while hugging him back..  
“Very important” Phil said and turned around to leave without looking back.


	13. Rescue Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil has to rescue May. Will he make it before it's too late ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is almost at its end. I will update a new chapter every day so keep a look. 
> 
> PS : this chapter might contain slight references to torture and injuries. So if you aren't for that sort of thing, please avoid. I'll try summarise it in a better way for you at the beginning of the next chapter.

May was still feeling extremely fuzzy. It was as if she was on some form of a drug. She couldn’t really remember what had last happened. When she tried to do so, it felt like her brain would burst out from her skull any moment because it hurt that bad. Slowly and steadily as she gained back her eyesight properly, and was somewhat able to concentrate better, she remembered that she along with Audrey had been captured and that she helped Audrey escape. She also managed to remember that Asian guy who’d come in to talk. She tried to remember his name and even though found it rather hard, she managed to remember him to be Bakshi. The last thing on her mind though was being punched by someone after which everything had gone blank.

As she tried to move she realised that her hand were still cuffed, but unlike before, they were now held together using a chain that was suspended from the ceiling. She was mid air, hanging from a chain binding her hands together.

She tried to struggle, to fidget to see if she could free herself but found it to be almost impossible. It was not because that they were really strong, indeed they were, no doubt, but Melinda had been in a similar situation before and she had managed to escape from such chains before, but it was because she found herself not having the strength to. Melinda May was a very strong woman, she was one who never ever give up easily, she was someone who would fight as long as she could, so if she had felt that she didn’t have the strength to, it meant that she really couldn’t. She hadn’t eaten anything since hours but she had survived without food for days, but here she hadn’t had a chance to even drink water since the last time she drank a cup at Audrey’s place. To add to that, her injuries were now taking a toll on her, injured from her fight at Audrey’s place, along with some here, and added to that was the one near her waist. Even though it had been stitched up once again, considering the fact that she was still alive, there was no counter argument to the fact that she did lose a lot of blood. She was no doctor, but having been a specialist who had faced such situations before, she knew what so much of blood loss would mean. If her estimation was right, she wouldn’t make it for more that 2 more hours without proper medical care.  
Right now though it was not what she was worried about. She at the moment was wondering if Phil had managed to reach Audrey. If Audrey was safe. If she was then that made her happy. At the same time she knew Phil, she knew her team, they would come to save her at any cost and without proper backup.She didn’t want them risking their lives for her. Those kids as she had grown to calling them fondly, were the future of SHIELD, they needed to stay alive. Also she knew that the main aim of these guys was to get hold of Phil, maybe to find out more about the GH drug, so she couldn’t afford Phil risking his life for her. It was her job to protect him and have his back. She didn’t have anyone waiting for her to go back to, but Phil did, he had a team that needed his presence at any cost, and if everything had gone well between him and Audrey, then he’d have Audrey back too. She didn’t even have the strength to avoid a sudden pang of sadness that had brought to her. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Phil to be with Audrey, to be frank Audrey was a lovely woman who would keep Phil happy, always, on the other hand May felt that she was broken, damaged, she was surrounded by darkness, haunted by memories she fought against every single day, so Audrey was a safer and a better option and Phil loved her, but yet she felt sad, she wished she would have gotten more time with him, if not to tell him that she was in love with him, but then atleast to be there for him as his friend.

She knew that these guys would try to get any information from her in the next few hours, and that she had to avoid letting them know anything. She hoped that the team wouldn’t come here. Being so close to death once again after Bahrain, she didn’t feel broken like she had at that moment. She had gone back to the field, had once again partnered with Phil, had mentored some really good bunch of SHIELD agents, she helped Phil rebuild SHIELD, she had seen Phil come back from death. She was content with everything that had happened. She had fought against some of the worst moments in her life to make it here and she was fine with that, she just wished she had more time with Phil. When she did, she had pushed him away and now when she wanted to, she couldn't.

“Well Good Morning Agent May” A man said walking up to her. He had a different accent than Bakshi and she knew he was someone else.

“Nice to know you’re alive, for a moment we thought you’re not gonna come back to consciousness” He said and continued “Oh by the way let me introduce myself, I’m Dr.Whitehall, how do you feel right now ?”

“Seriously ? Like kicking someone’s ass” Melinda replied. She was surprised at how weak her voice sounded. She couldn’t believe it was her own voice, yet she managed to convey her point as strongly as she could.

“Aah, they were correct, you do have certain charm” Whitehall said and continued “too bad it won’t be for long, once you tell us about everything that you know regarding the procedure that brought your director back to life, we’ll leave you to die a rather peaceful death, unlike one we chose for you in case you refuse to.”

“I dare you to even try” Melinda added trying hard to smirk.

“Oh I sure will, if you refuse. Though I’m sure now that your friend is out there, she would make sure the director knows where you’ve been kept so that they can come here” Whitehall said.

“You don’t have any idea what my team is capable of” She replied.  
“We’ll find out soon won’t we ? but before that I need you to tell me what you know about ‘umm what was the guy’s name you said ? aah ! Coulson, yeah what was it that brought him back from the dead ?” Whitehall asked.

He waited for May to reply who just continued to stare at him.

“Well so you’re going to choose the hard way ? Why am I not surprised, you see Agent May, we here at Hydra have existed for such a long time under SHIELD’s nose and will continue to get stronger by the day because we know how to make people comply”

He walked over to a table at the side to bring an injection. “You know what happens if I inject you with what there is in this ?” he asked showing it to her.

“Our human body produces Endorphins to fight pain, but this serum does the exact opposite of that. Once I inject you with this, your body instead of fighting again pain, will start fighting against the endorphins that do so, and soon enough even a gentle blow of air, touching your skin will hurt like hell, rather even more” He said.

Melinda knew this man wasn’t joking. He could see it in his face, but it didn’t matter, she was anyways going to die, and it wasn’t that she couldn’t bear pain anymore, considering the rate at which she could feel her body go numb, even pain would be a better choice as an indicator that she was alive.

“Made your choice Agent May ? You better let me know what happened in TAHITI with Coulson if you don’t want this”

“There is no way I am going to let you know anything” She replied.

“Ok then, remember it’s your choice.” Whitehall replied and went on to inject May with the serum.

Instantly May could feel every single particle of her body burning, every single cell, even breathing hurt. She had been through various stages of pain, physical and mental, but nothing came close to this. She wanted to shriek out, wanted to cry but couldn’t because even that hurt. She realised that if there was a choice of the worst way one could die, she had made the top one.

“Hurts doesn’t it Agent May ?” Whitehall asked.

May shuddered, hanging to the chains which made her feel like her arms would be crumbling any moment into tiny little pieces.

“Don’t fight it, it’ll hurt even more” Whitehall said.  
“You know you can still save yourself and even maybe Coulson if you tell us now, I have the counter drug ready, I can administer it to you” Whitehall added and continued “This Director of yours is one lucky guy, considering how much, his agents are ready to even face this, in order to protect him, that guy has already been dead once do you really think he’s worth it ? He isn’t even capable of protecting his girlfriend, I mean that guy has nightmares and he risks his agents’ life to make sure his girlfriend is safe ? He seems pretty much like a dead weight to have in an organisation like SHIELD”

“Don’t … you … even .. dare .. speak .. what .. Phil’s .. worth” May said trying to breathe slowly, enough to convey her anger to hear this guy talk rubbish about Phil at the same time trying to make it hurt as less as possible.

“Wow, this guy must be something if you’re fighting for him in this condition, oh wait Phil ? seems like it isn’t just loyalty here at play, do you have feelings for this guy Agent May ?” Whitehall asked with an evil grin on his face, this was more information that he had expected.

When May didn’t answer it was more than a conformation for him. He decided he need to break down May mentally to make her comply.  
“I got my answer. It’s sad Agent May and at the same time really worth admiring, You went over to meet this guy’s girlfriend even when you had been in love with him ? that is surprising.”

May knew he was playing an emotional game with her but she thought of his words, May hadn’t even realised she was in love with Phil until it came to her being almost dead. She wished she had realised it earlier, but then would she have told him ? Would she have done anything different ? she thought of it to realise her answer was no. She wouldn’t do anything different, she would have still gone to see Audrey if Phil had asked, she would still have helped Audrey escape, Phil loved Audrey not her anyways, but she loved him, it wasn't easy to be in love with a guy knowing that he wouldn't love you back, but she had been doing that for long now, though the only difference was that she herself had realised it just a few moments back, yet she knew she would let him go, she would never try to get him because she knew who he was in love with, she would continue to be his best friend for as long as it required, and she knew the end of this struggle wasn't far, she risked her life for him and she would risk her life again and again if it meant giving him what he needed. As death approached her, she thought of Coulson, her mother, the woman who had worked so hard to shape Melinda into the woman she was now. She knew her mother was proud of her and that made her happy, she owed a lot to her, and she knew that her mother would be proud to know she died in the line of duty.   
She thought of the friends she had made over time, though not many but some very loyal ones like Maria, Romanoff, Fury. She owed Fury a lot, for keeping his faith on her.   
She thought about her ex-husband, a man who let himself be used by her so that she could hold herself together as she broke. She felt guilty and apologised to him.   
She thought about the team, a bunch of kids, who had now become an important part of her life. Fitz, that socially awkward kid who in an year had seen so much more than what some agents saw in a lifetime, he had a close brush with death but had survived. She had tried to make sure the kid felt better with time, she had helped him with his training and she was so proud of him.   
Jemma, who was the gentle one in the family. Petite and soft, yet so strong with her intentions and actions. The girl was a genius indeed and May really admired her for that.   
Tripp, The guy who had joined them last as a replacement for the traitor Ward, and soon became an inevitable part of their lives,   
Skye, the girl who wasn't her choice, the girl Coulson took under his wing, because he saw something in her, she had failed to see but with time she knew. The girl was like a younger version of herself, carefree, stubborn and risk taker. She was a wild spirit and May wished she'd always stay that way. She knew after her. it would be Skye who'd take care of Phil.   
Phil, the guy who meant the world to her. The dorky guy she had met in the academy and went on to become best friends with. The guy who became her partner soon after that, the guy who she went on her first mission to Sausalito with, the guy who became someone she confided her greatest achievements and happiness in, someone she shared her darkest and saddest moments with, the guy who was there for her through it all, whether she asked him to be there or not, the guy who became her strength when she had none, the guy who became her hope when she lost it all, the guy who held her together when she found herself breaking into pieces after Bahrain. Phil had done so much for her, and this was the least she could do for him. She hoped they would find a solution for his symptoms and that he'd be fine. He would make a great Director, he already was one, like Fury had said, people like him were the heart of this organisation and they deserved to be the head. Even though she wouldn't be there to see him succeed, she was thankful for all the moments life had given her with him.

Noticing the way she was lost in thoughts and knowing it would be about Coulson, Whitehall said “but it’s sad that you can’t tell him, and even more sad to see that he has no idea about how you feel about him and that he doesn’t feel the same way, or else he would never risk your life like this Agent May" after pausing a bit "how does it feel to think the guy you love doesn’t love you back Agent May ?” Whitehall asked.

He indicated a guy at the door to come in and to free May from the chains. The guy did so and then made her sit on a chair while tying her hands behind with a rope.

“You see Agent May or should I say Melinda, because now we’re conversing on a much more personal level, I thought this is the least I could do for you”

Melinda gave a snort, one that hurt like a bitch.  
“You ready to help me out here Melinda ?” He said bringing a glass of water and gulping it down to keep an empty glass beside her.

May couldn’t help but laugh at what the guy was trying to do, seriously he was some real weird guy, one who needed immediate psychological treatment. She was happy that atleast Audrey had escaped him.

Whitehall checked his watch and said “ looks like it’ll be an hour or so before you give up, maybe even earlier, considering the amount of pain you’re going to face soon, and since it looks like you won’t be answering my questions, I’ll be back later to see if you’re dead or not, and yes if your lover boy comes to save you, I’ll make sure he sees what you’re going through so that atleast he complies” Saying this Whitehall left the room.

__________o0o____________

 

The team had reached the lake in 2 cars and Skye got to work, it didn’t take her long to trace the signal and they managed to reach the vicinity of the area where the building was situated.  
Coulson knew that they had made everything so easy because they wanted to be found out, they needed the team to come looking for them, so he obviously didn’t want to risk the team’s safety for this. So he had Trip park the cars at a distance from where they can easily escape if the need arose.

“Ok Trip, get the guns ready, you and I are going in” Phil said.

“But Sir ..” Skye tried to say something but was cut off by Coulson.

“No Skye, I need you stay back here with Simmons, seeing how easy they have made this for us, it’s obvious what’s in there is way too dangerous and I can’t risk your lives.”

“We want to help Sir, I’ve been training with May, I can manage” Skye said.

“I know but still I need you here, in case those people come out, I need you to make sure Jemma is safe, and you both need to go back to the bus, don’t wait for us at any cost ok ?” Coulson told her sternly.

“We’re not leaving without you sir” Jemma said.

“It’s an order Agent Simmons, you will not wait, but leave” Coulson said as strictly as possible, he looked over at Trip and said “To be frank I don’t even want you to come” 

“But you very well know I won’t listen to you” Trip said.

Coulson nodded and Trip and Coulson got down, all set with guns.  
“Sir” Skye said from behind, “make sure you come back with May”

He looked at her with a small smile and nodded his head before they began to approach the building.

As they neared it Coulson said “They wanted us to come, so that they can get hold of us, so we keep our focus on saving May and not fighting those guys, let’s leave taking down these people, for another day if the need comes. We need to look for May, take down anyone who comes your way, as soon as you find May just leave with her you get that ?” Coulson asked Trip.

“Yes sir” Trip replied. After a moment’s pause he asked “Can I ask you something sir ?”

“Go ahead” Coulson said, carefully approaching the building checking the area near the gate while hiding behind a bush.

“Why didn’t you even tell Agent May you love her ?” Trip asked, leaving Coulson stunned.

“Sorry ?” Coulson asked him back.

“C’mon sir, don’t say that you don’t love her because it’s way too obvious but yes if you haven’t realised it yet that’s a different story” Tripp said.

“and you did because ?” Coulson asked still recovering from Trip’s earlier statement, he found it weird that his first response was not about denying what Tripp had said.

“Did you see they way you look at her ? I mean it’s way too obvious” Tripp replied.

The way he looked at her ? Did he look at her differently, she was his friend so yeah maybe, but was it love ? was he in love with Melinda ? Even though he wasn’t sure he agreed with it, he found it hard to deny it as well. He was always fond of her no doubt, but the last few hours where he had almost lost her made it clear that he almost found it tough to even survive without her. Was it love ? he cleared his head, this wasn’t the time to think of it.

Making sure the area was clear he indicated Tripp to continue walking, and said “ Don’t you think this isn’t the appropriate time to talk about such stuff ?”

“Well we won’t know whether we’ll go back alive or not sir, I mean what if this is the last chance you get ?” Trip replied.

Yes, what if this is indeed the last chance he got ? What if he most probably had already the lost the last chance he had ? what would he have said to May if that was the last thing he could say to her, he found his mind and heart answering the question for him, he would tell her that he loved her. Too early to realise this ain’t it Coulson ? he thought to himself, when they heard bullet shots.

Getting a grip on the situation again, he started to fire back. They both easily had taken down the guys guarding the door.  
As soon as they entered the building, they were approached by 2 really sturdy guys and Raina and Quinn just behind them.  
Coulson tried to shoot at the guys with his gun but they weren’t affected, he remembered the gun Fitz had given them and aimed and shot at the guys perfectly, in a second they were down.

Raina and Quinn witnessing what had happened, began to run towards the stairs.  
As Coulson lifted his ICER Trip said “Let me have the pleasure sir” and he shot Quinn and Raina with normal ICERs thinking that using up real bullets on them would be a waste of time and effort.

They separated and started to look through the building, while Coulson decided to go upstairs, Trip decided to handle the lower two floors.

As Coulson approached the top floor, he was attacked by 2 guys, punching him hard enough that he crashed into a wall. Managing to get hold of himself again, he fired at the two guys with his gun, while it hit one in the head, making him fall dead on the spot, the other guy wasn’t really injured. He ran towards Coulson and pushed him through the door of a room, Coulson crashed onto the furniture there. The guy punched him hard in the face and Coulson could realise he had started bleeding. Struggling to get hold of the gun he had been given by Fitz, he pulled out to shoot the guy, but missed by a few centimeters. He fired another one as the guy came towards him, the bullet hit the guy in his back, and he collapsed.

Coulson struggling to get up, his shirt covered by blood because of his crashing into the furniture leading to cuts, his nose which almost felt like it didn’t even exist, finally managed to stand on his feet, wobbling a bit before regaining posture. He walked over searching for May when a voice halted him in the corridor.

“Seems your lover is here afterall Agent May” he heard a man say. He walked over to that room and opened it ready with his gun to reveal a sight that if not completely, did manage to kill him.  
Melinda May, the Melinda May, the woman who never gave up to anything, who had fought valiantly against death, who could kick someone’s ass as easily as she did Tai Chi, his Melinda May, his saviour, the woman who wouldn’t back out from taking a bullet to save him, the woman he had just realised he had been in love with for as long as he could remember, his best friend, his partner, was tied to a chair,colour drained from her face, almost on the brink of death, shuddering with every breath she took. Sweat covered her face, and he realised his forehead had been covered by sweat as well on seeing the sight in front of him. He had seen some really bad things in life, he had died and had come back, he had alien serum running through his blood, but nothing could be compared to how bad he felt right now. It was his fault that May was in this situation. He would never be able to forgive himself if he couldn’t save her.

“Oh hello Director” Whitehall said.  
Coulson broke from his rail of thoughts to see this guy.  
“You! What did you do to her ?” Coulson asked fuming with anger.  
“Aah love, makes you react in the worst possible ways” Whitehall replied and then continued “She’s alive, well more like she’s surviving, for now”

“You better tell me now what you did with her, there’s no way you’re going out of here alive, so you better let me know what you did to her” Coulson replied,

Listening to Coulson’s voice Melinda became aware of her surroundings once again. She knew and rather had hoped she was already dead, but seems fate had betrayed her again, and to make matters worse, she knew whose voice it was, it was the same voice she desperately wanted to hear but at the same time wished she hadn’t.

Struggling to open her eyes, she managed to open them up slightly.  
“Phil” she muttered, voice lower than a whisper, and if there wasn’t pin drop silence in the room no one would’ve heard her.

On hearing May’s voice, Phil rushed over to her “Melinda I’m .. I’m here, you’re gonna be ok, we’re here to take you back” he said. As soon as he touched her arm she hissed in pain, hissed because she didn’t have the strength to shriek. He pulled back his hand immediately, shocked at her reaction.

“Who ?” May asked.

“Don’t worry, they’re safe, it’s just Me and Trip and Trip taking down the guys in the lower floors’ Coulson said.

Struggling to breathe let alone speak May said “You .. shouldn’t ... have .. come, I … told .. Audrey … not .. to”

“I know” Phil said “but I came anyway, you mean a lot to me May, I couldn’t let the person I lo..” he handled himself before saying anything to make it worse “care about die, you’re not getting rid of me that soon” he tried to joke.

Only Phil could joke in such a situation, May thought.

“As sweet as this sounds you have a decision to make Director Coulson” Whitehall said.  
Coulson looked at him confused. the guy was alone here,Trip would’ve rather might've already easily taken down his whole team, and yet he was bargaining.

“and what would that be ?” Coulson asked.

“aah very simple, do you want Agent May alive or not ?” Whitehall asked.

Now Coulson realised why Whitehall was bargaining.

“You see Agent May here has been injected with a serum that multiplies her pain levels by a huge amount, imagine someone who not even had a glass of water to drink, nothing to eat, a badly stitched up would, with a serum in their blood that would even make breathing hurt so bad that it forces you to wish you didn’t” Whitehall said.

Coulson now realised why May had winced when he touched her arm. This was much worse that he had thought.

“What do you want ?” he asked Whitehall, his determination to save Melinda stronger than ever.

“I have the antiserum for this, but you will get that only when you hand yourself over to me, see my age is nearly a hundred but here I am still alive and young because of my capabilities as a surgeon and because of a woman I had once captured, but in you is the solution to fight death and I want that” Whitehall said.

Coulson remembered where he had seen Whitehall’s face, It was in the Peggy Carters’ notes that Fury had left for him.

“Too ambitious don’t you think ?” Coulson asked Whitehall.

“Well what is life without an ambition Agent Coulson ? while normal humans thrive to survive, I thrive to live, to conquer life, and now even death” Whitehall replied.

“What do you want me to do ?” Coulson asked.

May immediately heard what he said, he was going to take the bullet for her, she couldn’t live thinking that Coulson died saving her, let alone she couldn’t simply live without him. She voiced out as loudly as she could “No” she said clearly.

Coulson rushed back to her “Let me do this for you May” he said, his voice choking up.

May shook her head violently refusing. “I .. won’t .. let .. you .. die .. I … can’t” she said almost crying on the last two words. Coulson hated to see her cry and it hurt even more to see her in pain when she did that, gently lifting his hands almost touching her cheeks as lightly as a feather he wiped her tears realising that something as delicate as that also hurt her.  
“I have to Melinda, you’ve done so much for me, you’ve always had my back, now it’s my turn, it’s been you May, it’s always been you” he said.

May was crying now, she didn’t care how much it hurt, how much it pained, she couldn't stop herself from crying, Coulson was giving up himself for her, and she couldn’t let that happen.

Coulson got up and looked at Whitehall. “Ok, I’ll do anything you need, just give her the antiserum”

“I will, definitely, after I take you in” Whitehall said.

“What’s the guarantee that you will ?” Coulson asked.

“Well guess you’ll have to risk that” Whitehall replied.

“No I need you to give her the antiserum” Coulson replied sternly.

“Ok, here” he said taking an injection out from his hand and keeping it on a table in the room. “If not me, by the time I take you from here, your partner should arrive in this room, he will administer it to her” Whitehall said.

Coulson nodded. He knew he had to take the risk, something was better than nothing.

Whitehall walked over to him and injected Coulson with something making him instantly go weak. He almost tumbled onto the floor.

“No..” May shouted as loudly as she could.

“I don’t know why I wasted time kidnapping that girlfriend of his, all I needed was you it seems” Whitehall said. He held Coulson and dragged him along with him.

May didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t let Coulson die, even if she hadn’t realised she was in love with him, she wouldn’t let him die, Coulson mattered way too much to her and his life was much more important than hers, she couldn’t live with the guilt of his death looming over her. She couldn't take over SHIELD after him, she just couldn’t think of him dying over her again. She was the specialist, she was the one who fought death, not him. He had been there once and she was there after he died, she had tried to live on without him, tried to live a life without her best friend there for her and she knew how much she had hated every single second of that life, she just couldn't bear to go through it again and now when there was no alien serum to bring him back. She was going to stop him from accepting a fate that was meant for her.

With all the strength she could muster, she closed her eyes to gather all the power she had in her, she knew what she would do would hurt like hell, rather more. She stood up and slammed the chair onto the the table near by, shouting as she did that.  
The pain she faced had no limit, but the rush of adrenaline in her and the determination to save Coulson became more strong that the serum in her.

She saw the gun that had fallen on the floor when Coulson had collapsed. Walking over to it, she picked it up and huffing and breathing as slowly as she could she walked to the door. She could see Whitehall on one end of the corridor, almost making his way to an exit, she knew she had one shot, she knew this gun seemed like an ICER and might not hold Whitehall for long, but she had to try.

On hearing noises Whitehall turned around to see an injured Agent May, with the determination of a tigress trying to protect her loved ones at the other end of the corridor. He was stunned and shocked by what he saw. There was no way any normal human would manage to stand up let alone come out in the condition that she was in.  
Before he could think of anything May fired, and the one shot went and hit him. He fell down instantly.

May was surprised that she had managed to hit the target spot on. She crawled over to Phil who was still slightly conscious, and fell down.

“Nice shot” Phil said sluggishly.  
May gave a smile before releasing the toll this had taken on her, also realising that she had opened up her stitches. She felt like she knew her end was near, giving Phil a small smile she collapsed on the floor immediately.

At that moment Trip had entered and rushed over to them “get the serum from that room, on the table” Phil said.

Realising that he couldn’t waste even a second longer by asking questions Trip rushed in to see a broken table but an injection fallen there. He brought it and when Phil indicated towards May, Trip injected her with the serum.

“She’s bleeding sir, she seems to have opened up her stitches” Trip said.  
“Take her to Jemma now! you and Jemma leave with her, I’ll come with Skye” Phil said.

Nodding his head Trip lifted up and took off with May while Coulson stood up mustering all the strength he had left to follow them and he wondered if he was too late, and that he couldn't tell her how he felt about her.


	14. Survival (Finale Part - I )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson managed to rescue May, but is she really safe now ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first part of the finale and it's really angsty. The finale might be divided into 2 or 3 parts, and whatever it is it'll be over by this weekend. 
> 
> PS : don't own AoS or Marvel. Just a huge fan!

Previously (for those who wanted to avoid the chapter because of references to torture) : Coulson and Trip managed to enter the building where May was kept to rescue her. While Trip went to take down the criminals, Phil went in search for May and found her held hostage by Whitehall who had injected a serum in her and refused to give the anti serum until Phil agreed to let him experiment and find out about GH325. Phil agrees even though May doesn't want him to, but before things get worse, May risks her life yet again to stop Whitehall and Trip injects her with the anti serum. 

____________________

When Jemma and Skye saw Trip rushing towards them holding May, they panicked, not only because May looked almost … lifeless, but also Coulson was slowly dragging himself way behind them.

“May’s bleeding really bad, she ripped off her stitches and the guy had injected her with some weird serum, she almost died” Trip said rushing over,

Jemma got work immediately, so she could stitch up May enough to stop the bleeding for now. Though she wasn’t sure if that would really help seeing May’s condition right now.

“Skye I’ll leave with them you come with Coulson once he reaches here” Trip told Skye.

Skye nodded off and got of the car, she ran over to Coulson to give him support and they went back to the other car as fast as they could and leave soon enough, Skye driving as fast as she could, managing to break many rules, not caring about what the outcome would be, even Coulson didn’t have the strength or wish to tell her otherwise. It didn’t take them long enough to almost reach Trip and Jemma.

Coulson started to gain back his strength and focus as they approached the bus. Quite confident that he would be fine by the time they did but it mattered nothing to him, all he wanted was to make sure May was alright.

_____________________________

As soon as they saw one of the cars coming Fitz and Keonig got to work. Trip got out shouting “I need help”

Keonig immediately arranged for a gurney to transport May into med bay, Coulson and Skye reached soon after and Coulson opened the door even before the car could be completely brought to a halt, and rushed over to the gurney, May was bleeding again.

“The stitches aren’t holding well sir” Jemma said as they rushed her to the med bay.

Coulson couldn’t even look at her face because all he could see was blood, he held her hand tightly, as if it was the last feeling he could have of hers, it felt so real to him, as if he was losing the one person he cared about the most in the world, the one person he loved the most in the world. As soon as they reached the med bay, Jemma along with a few new doctors in the team got to work, telling the rest to vacate the med bay immediately.

Fitz saw the whole scene unfold in front of his eyes, he felt helpless at the moment, that he couldn’t do anything to help. He walked to the spiral staircase and sat down.

Audrey came out from one of the bunks and rushed over to Skye.

“What happened ?” Audrey asked.

“May .. she ..almost died, we don’t know if she’ll survive” Skye said and walked over to sit beside Fitz.

At that moment Trip came out along with a conscious but giddy Coulson beside him.

“Oh my god Phil” Audrey said rushing over to him.

“I’m fine” Coulson said

“Sir you need to get checked” Trip said.

“I’m fine” Coulson said, pushing aside Trip and walking towards the staircase to go to his office, he almost tumbled after a few steps when Skye held him “I said I’m fine, I just …” he said angrily for a moment, then gaining his composure he finished “I need to be alone for now” he said and went into his office shutting the door.

As Coulson entered his office, he went over to his table and pushed off all the items on it angrily. He didn’t really know why he felt so angry and who was he angry with ?  
Was it May for risking her life even when he told her he wanted to save her ? why did she always have to do that ? why did she always have to put her life before his ? why did she think he mattered more than her ? or was he angry with himself for putting May in this situation in the first place, for not being able to protect her the way she protected him, for not being the friend to her as she was to him, for not realising his feelings for her earlier.

He didn’t know what frustrated him more but just that he was fuming with anger. He had to put his feelings aside, even though he felt that way about May it wasn’t necessary that she felt that way about him right ? She had always seen him as a friend and would continue to do so, but he loved her, he knew that, if May survived he was going to show her how grateful he was for everything she had done for him. He owed her that much. He didn’t want her to die, the thought itself made him cringe. He remembered the way he had seen her struggle in pain, and yet she had risked herself for him, he felt like he didn’t deserve someone like Melinda May in his life.  
What had happened a moment before all felt like Déjà vu , that’s when he realised it was like the dream he had. It wasn’t Audrey who was bleeding but it was May, his Melinda May, the woman he loved and now regretted the thought that he might lose her forever.

A knock on his door broke his rail of thoughts.  
“I really want to be alone right now Skye” he said, knowing that the only person who’d dare to be here at the moment was Skye.

“Umm .. It’s actually me sir” Fitz said.

“Come in Fitz” he said, the kid was close to May, no doubt he needed someone to talk to, though Coulson wondered if he was the right choice.

“How are you doing sir ?” Fitz asked.

“Considering the person who matters to me the most is out there fighting against death, I think I’m doing fine” he said, then realising he might have come off to be a bit rude, said “I’m sorry .. I just ..” he trailed off rubbing his eyes.

“I know sir, I understand” Fitz said and added “I’m sorry if I had sounded a bit rude earlier sir and that I couldn’t really help you much”

Coulson was surprised by what the kid said.

“You really think that ? Fitz come here” Coulson said. Fitz came over and sat on the chair opposite of Coulson “You have no idea how much you did Fitz, you know that bullets you and Jemma designed ? they are the reason, why May and I are here today, you found out about that signal and so much more, never see yourself as anything less, I’m proud of you, May is proud of you, she’ll be happy to know what you did for her when she wakes up” Coulson said.

“You think so ?” Fitz asked still unsure.

“I’m the Director, I don’t say things until I’m sure” Coulson said with a small smile.

Fitz nodded and started to leave but stopped in between and turned back and asked “What will you do about Audrey sir ?”

“Sorry ?” Coulson asked a bit confused.

“What will you tell her ?”

“She knows about SHIELD and I trust her not tell anyone about what she saw happening here, once this is done, we’ll have her relocate to a new place so that the enemies don’t find her” Coulson replied.

“No I mean about you and her sir” Fitz asked.

“I ..” Coulson didn’t know how to reply. What was he going to do ? Audrey now knew he was alive, if needed they could get back together, he could have that happy family, safe option but did he want that ? He knew he didn’t, he loved Melinda, but he had feelings for Audrey too, but he didn’t know when those feelings fell short in front of what he felt for May. Sure Audrey was a safer choice, but his life was far from safe, his existence in itself was something complicated and rather impossible to explain, just thinking about her had risked her life so bad, being with her again would make it worse, and no other reason could beat the fact that he didn’t feel about Audrey the way he felt about May, not anymore, he realised that all this time Audrey had been a diversion, his real love had always been May, but since he couldn’t have her he had gone for a safer option, but did May love him ? He thought she didn’t but then why did she risk her life for him ? Well she always did ..’ his mind and heart were an absolute mess right now.

“Can I say something sir ?” Fitz asked interrupting his thoughts.

Coulson nodded his head reluctantly.

“Sir, I’m really a naive in this matter to speak about it, hell didn’t even realise about how I felt for Jemma till we almost died, but even I know how she feels about you, even I can see that, but what you do is your choice sir, and you know who I’m talking about. You care about both of them, but sir ..” he paused for a moment before saying “Don’t be with someone because you have to, be with someone because you want to”.

He gave Coulson a small smile and then left closing the door. Coulson couldn’t help but think how much this kid had changed. How much he had matured in his time here, being with SHIELD was a choice, and once you chose it, there was no way your life wouldn’t change, he had witnessed that happen. It could make you a much stronger person or completely shatter you, but there was no way you would be the same. He was glad to see how much Fitz had become responsible and mature, training with May had that effect on you, she would always be there to protect if needed at the same time she wouldn't’ back out from giving someone the chance to grow and become self dependent.

He knew he had to make a choice but that would come later, right now he had to wait and hope for good news rather any news from Jemma because the silence was killing him.

________________________________

Fitz walks downstairs and found Skye still sitting there, the look on her face clear enough to indicate she had been crying.

“Can I sit here with you ?” he asked coming to stand near her.

“Yeah yeah sure” Skye said wiping off her tears, quickly.

Fitz sat down beside her, there was a silence between them for some time.

“Is he ok ?” Skye asked a moment later, forcing her voice to come out.

“What do you think ?” He asked.

Skye huffed shrugging her shoulders.

“He cares about her so much, no doubt he would be broken if May doesn’t make it” Skye said.

“I know, it’s always been May, she has always cared about us so much you know ?” Fitz said.

Skye nodded.

Giving a sad laugh he continued “I almost gave up on myself, after that incident with Ward, wasn’t sure I could be back up on my feet again, until May took over the duty of my exercise regimen. She told me that, the day I gave up on myself would be the day I let Ward win, let Hydra win, she knew how tough it was for me you know ?” he looked at Skye who gave a smile herself and nodded her head.  
“She said that there would be that one moment in your life when you will give up on yourself, when you will think that nothing can save you, but there will always be some reason, maybe a person or an ambition that’ll make sure you don’t, you start living for that reason” Fitz completed.

Skye rested her palm on his knees “I know, you fought death for Jemma, she’s your reason, just like finding about my parents and wanting to create a name for myself is mine, and AC is May’s” she said.

“Yesterday morning when you were speaking about May, I didn’t realise what you meant until I travelled to Portland with her, it’s sad that by the time she did realise how she felt about him, she is in a situation where she might never get a chance to tell him” Skye said, tears filling up her eyes again.  
She wasn’t a religious person, she didn’t really believe in god, but right now she felt that if there was any higher power that existed, she would pray, for May, because not only Coulson needed her but they all did too, Coulson and May had been through so much together, they deserve a little moment of happiness and she wanted that to happen.

“She’ll be fine, she knows we all need her” Fitz said resting his arm across her shoulders and she rested her head on his.

“if she gets better I will definitely listen to all her orders without sulking, even if she wants me to do 2 or 3 extra hours of Tai Chi” Skye said chuckling slightly, even Fitz smiled and they fell back into silence again.

Time passed by in silence, Trip announced that they’ll be arriving at the playground any moment and asked everyone to buckle up. The rushing down of Coulson from his office a few minutes later got everyone back to being attentive.

“What happened ?” Skye asked and Coulson rushed past her.  
“Simmons has called us in the lab” he said quickly and went off, Skye and Fitz following him.

Seeing the speed at which Coulson went towards the lab it almost felt as if he would crash himself into the door.  
“What happened ?” Coulson asked as soon as he opened the Med Bay’s door.  
Skye and Fitz joined him there a moment after.  
“Sir, I was able to stop the blood flow, though she has lost a lot of blood. Also ..” Simmons said pausing for a moment, on noticing everyone staring at her like a hawk she continued “she crashed twice in between, it’s a miracle that she’s still alive.”

The fact that she had crashed twice had him worried, but also that she’s alive made him happier than ever, he couldn’t help but smile, though noticing that Jemma didn’t have the same reaction brought a halt to his happiness, he knew there was more and it necessarily wasn’t good information.

“Sir the serum they had injected in her, caused her a lot of trauma, so we don’t know whether there is some brain damage here that we’re dealing with, until she wakes up” Jemma said

“And …” Coulson waited for her to finish of the information.

“and .. the trouble is sir .. is that …. I’m not entirely sure when she’ll wake up or even if she will or not, the physical damage has been way too extensive, I’ve put her up on a ventilator that’s helping her breathe for the moment” she said. “I’m sorry sir, that’s the best I could do”

“It’s ok Jemma” Coulson replied gloomily.

“So what do you mean ? Is she like in a coma or something ?” Skye asked.

“Yeah, though there can’t be any time frame to tell when she’ll be back or if she will or not, and the longer it takes, the more is there a chance of permanent brain damage, we can’t remove the tubes until she breathes on her own, and right now the chances are pretty grim” Jemma told her.

Skye was almost on the verge of crying, she didn’t know what this meant, May was alive but wasn’t ? She knew one thing for sure, life couldn’t possibly get any messier. She saw the way Coulson looked at May, she knew that he blamed himself for everything that has happened to her, he was breaking, she could see that and sadly the only person who could hold him together was fighting to live herself.

“I need you to go buckle up, I’m staying here beside May” Coulson said.

“But sir..”Koenig tried to say something but was interrupted by Coulson “Do as I say”

They nodded and went away. Coulson saw as Trip activated the automatic belts to hold May in place and they landed. He went and sat in a chair nearby her and buckled up as they were set to land.  
Audrey noticed as she saw the team walk over to the hangar. Disappointment clear on their face and Coulson nowhere to be seen, she wondered if something really bad had happened to May. Skye told her to come buckle up for landing and she did as asked.

“Is everything alright ?” Audrey asked Skye.

Skye simply shook her head to say no, still finding herself unable to reply.

“Oh my god is May ?...” Audrey asked in shock unable to finish her sentence.

“She’s alive” Fitz said angrily “she isn’t dead for god’s sakes”

Simmons and Skye along with Audrey turned to look at him after his sudden outburst of anger.

“I’m sorry, it’s just …” he paused for a moment before saying “May isn’t dead yet, and she is May, she’s a fighter, she won’t give up on us easily, on him easily” he said pointing towards the med bay where Coulson was sitting near May’s bedside.

“I know Fitz, I was just stating the medical statisti..” Jemma tried to say something but was cut off by Fitz again “I know Jemma, I know that, it’s just she’s May, she never gives up and now it’s our turn not to, we can’t give up on her, we’ll have to hope that she will wake up soon, she has to”

Jemma nodded with a small smile on her face “She will, she knows how messy bunch of kids we are, and that we need her, she’ll be back right ?” She said looking towards Skye and Keonig who nodded as well.

Audrey looked at the whole conversation in awe, she knew Melinda was a wonderful person, a really great person, but seeing the way her team looked up to her was something that really left Audrey with a much higher level of respect and appreciation for the woman. When Phil used to talk about May, she had noticed how mesmerised Phil used to be, how much he admired Melinda, but then she met the woman herself and she found out why, to add to that she had seen how even the thought of losing Melinda affected Phil and his team, it was almost as if Melinda was the core soul of this team, she hadn’t known Melinda for very long, but she felt as if she had known her for ages, and she really wanted her to be ok as well.

Soon after the bus landed Trip came out of the cockpit. Keonig had told him about everything and he simply nodded his head and went over to the lab.  
A few moments later, Coulson along with Trip and Keonig had May transferred to the med bay in the playground.

As they took her through the bus, Audrey,Skye,Fitz,Jemma noticed how pale and lifeless she looked, hooked onto tubes that were keeping her alive for the moment, it really hurt them to see her in such a condition.

Coulson stopped near Audrey for a moment as said “She’ll be fine, I know she will .... right ?” he didn’t know why he asked Audrey that, but after May, it had been Audrey with whom he had such a close personal connection, he just needed someone apart from the team to say that she would be ok.  
Audrey nodded with a sad smile.  
“I’m sorry but we need to blindfold you before taking you inside, it’s protocol, we can’t afford you seeing our location” Phil said and looked at Skye who nodded her head and went in to bring a blindfold for Audrey.

Audrey wasn’t shocked or insulted by that, she knew that SHIELD had it’s set of protocols and that Coulson followed them religiously. She knew that he couldn’t afford taking the risk of her finding out. She had never gotten to know more about his work than that he was a SHIELD agent, he never told her much, and she respected it.

Coulson followed the rest of the team into the med bay, where Jemma got to work on setting everything up for May once they kept her there.  
Once Jemma had May hooked up onto the machines there, they left Coulson alone in the med bay to sit beside May, to be frank they wanted Coulson to go, get freshened up and then come back, considering he had been badly injured too, but they knew he’d refuse.

“Sir I need to check you once” Jemma said.

“ I don’t need to be checked, I’m fine” Coulson replied.

“I’m sure Agent May would’ve still told you to get checked when you’d say that” Jemma replied with a sad smile.

Coulson took a breath and then nodded his head, while Jemma came up to him to check his temperature, Blood pressure and also to patch up the wounds he had.

After some 15 minutes of all that, Coulson was now left alone with Melinda May, ‘the cavalry’, ‘the ice queen’ as people had referred to her. Coulson couldn’t imagine but think that those people didn’t have even the faintest idea of what Melinda May was really about. Pulling up a chair to her bedside he took her hand in his very carefully, his mind flashing the moment he had last done that and how she had hissed in pain. He couldn’t take that memory off his mind, he knew that if May didn’t make it, he would never ever be able to forget what he had seen, looking at her struggling to even breathe, and he didn’t want to forget it too, if that were the last memories he would have be of May, then so be it, he would go through them every single moment if the need arose.

“Hey Melinda” he whispered slowly, he was surprised as to how weak, desperate he sounded, almost as if he had given up.

“You know I really need you to wake up, I know you’re stubborn but I won’t let you win this fight, the team needs you, SHIELD needs you ..” he paused before saying “I need you. Please wake up soon, I can’t run SHIELD without you, I need you here, not just watching my back, but by my side, being my best friend, my partner. Please come back” he said choking up.

He didn’t know how much time had passed after that, maybe it was just an hour or so, but it felt like an era, he looked at the clock to see the time to be around 5 PM, more than a day since all that had happened. A day back he had heard Melinda talk to Audrey while he heard over the comms. and now Melinda was here back in the playground, Audrey was here in the playground, while it was Audrey he was worried about earlier, it was May he was worried about now.

“Sir, you need to freshen up” Skye said entering the med-bay.

“I’m not going anywhere” he replied firmly.

“I know and I’m not asking you to, I’m just telling you to take a break, go freshen up, have something to eat and come back here, I promise I’ll be here the whole time, I’m sure you wouldn’t want May waking up to see what you’ve done to yourself because you look like shit right now” she replied.

‘Skye was right, he did look really bad, he knew that Skye was as stubborn as May, no wonder the girl reminded him a lot of a younger Melinda May. She wasn’t going to listen anyways until he followed her orders’

“promise me you’ll call me down, irrespective of where I am, where there’s even a slight change in May’s condition ?” Coulson asked Skye.

“I promise” she replied.

Nodding his head, he went on to leave the med bay, Skye stopped him to say something.

“You need to speak to Audrey as well sir, she’s scared too” Skye said.

Coulson smiled a little and left the place.

Once Coulson left Skye walked over to take his place in the chair and said with a smile looking at May “You better be up soon, or he’ll go crazy


	15. To Have You Beside Me (Finale)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finale of the story. Everything finally comes to a conclusion, but what ? Read for yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been an absolute pleasure to write this. Thank you so much for all the love and support. I have had amazing comments and it just warms my heart ! Thanks again .. 
> 
> Once again I don't own AoS or Marvel, just a big fan :)

It took Coulson not more than 15 minutes to grab a sandwich from the kitchen and to go freshen up, he wanted to get back to Melinda as soon as he could.

Just as he was all set to leave someone knocked at his office’s door.  
He came out of his bunk into his office and walked over to open the door to see Audrey standing there.

“Hey” he said with a smile, Audrey had this calming presence around her, she had an aura of optimism, and it felt good to see her. Occupied with everything that had happened in the last few hours Coulson had forgotten about her, even she had been through a lot and he didn’t even talk to her properly.

“Can I come in ?” she asked softly.

“Oh yes, sorry sorry” he replied, moving aside to let her in. He was hoping at this moment that Skye was still with May and that May wasn’t alone right now.  
Audrey seemed to have understood his expression and said with a smile “Don’t worry, I just checked on her, Skye is still there”

He wasn’t surprised that his expressions gave away his thoughts “Oh okay, sorry it’s just ..”

“I know” Audrey replied “you’re worried for her, I understand” she said.

Coulson didn’t understand why everything felt so awkward with Audrey right now. He had never felt awkward with her before, even on their first date, but right now he didn’t know why she felt almost like a distant friend meeting him after a long time, whether it was the fact that it had been more than 2 years since they had spoken like this or maybe because he had now realised that it wasn’t Audrey but May he was in love with ? He didn't know, but yet when Audrey smiled he felt good, reassured.

“Take a seat” he said, asking her to sit on the couch in the room.

He thought that a day back it was May who was sitting with him on the couch and he was talking to her about Audrey and about his worries regarding Audrey’s safety, and everything had changed drastically since then, Audrey was here in his office, safe and sound and May was downstairs, fighting to survive.

He walked over to sit beside her. He took her hand in his and held it tight. May had gotten him used to this habit, he couldn’t help but smile at that, whenever he felt scared, worried or nervous, she would sit beside him and hold his hand to reassure him of her presence there, to make him feel better.

“She is a fighter” Audrey said trying to start a conversation, she herself realising how awkward things were getting.

“Yeah she is, has always been one” Coulson said looking ahead as if remembering the countless times, she hadn’t given up.

“Sorry I really didn’t get time to talk to you properly” he added, looking back at Audrey who was still looking at him smiling.

“No it’s ok, you had a valid reason” she said.

“How have you been ?” He asked, “too much for your introduction to what my job is all about huh ?”

She chuckled a bit at that and said “Yeah a little” and continued “I’ve been doing good, it took me sometime to recover from your death especially after the incident with Daniels, but I’m managing” she replied.

Coulson nodded guiltily, he had put her through way too much.

“How does it feel to have a second chance at life ?” Audrey asked.

Coulson couldn’t help but wonder at that, what was this second chance at life ? People like Audrey couldn’t know. For them he came back from death, at what cost, they couldn’t understand. They couldn’t be told how it felt to have alien serum running through your veins, to wake up suddenly and realise that you had been carving weird symbols into the walls, to know that your memories had been replaced by fake implanted memories of a visit to TAHITI, to have spent months saying that Tahiti was a magical place not actually having visit it.

“It has it’s pros and cons” he replied smiling back at her.

Awkward silence once again filled the room.

After some 2-3 minutes Audrey asked “You love her don’t you ?”

Coulson was surprised, firstly since it felt like everyone except himself seemed to have known that he was in love with May, and that the person asking him this question was someone he was supposed to have been in love with and to be frank he was at some point in life, he realised he was in love with the idea of Audrey, a safe option, a refuge from fighting criminals and working for a secret organisation, she saw him as a hero, someone who didn’t care about finding out more about his job, but that hadn’t made it easier, he always felt like he had been hiding stuff from her and that did irritate him, Audrey was an escape for him from the fact that he couldn’t be with May because May didn’t love him, not in the way he loved her atleast.

“Audrey I ..” he tried to say something but was cut off by Audrey “Hey you don’t need to apologise, I always had felt that you cared about her more than as a friend, when you used to speak about her, the way your eyes used to light up talking about her, but you kept insisting she was a friend …” she paused before continuing “After meeting her I realised why you love her”

Coulson smiled at that, Audrey was a wonderful person indeed and now he didn’t have to face the awkwardness of explaining to her anything because she understood. He realised that his relationship with Audrey had ended at that moment, but the fact that it had gotten a proper closure made him happy.

“She doesn’t love me that way” he said.

Now it was Audrey’s turn to be surprised “Are you kidding ?” Audrey said almost laughing.

Coulson looked at her, confusion clear on his face. “huh ?” he asked.

“You really don’t know do you ?” she asked.

“Don’t know what ?” Phil felt like he might've been the most clueless person ever born on this planet.  
“She loves you Phil, she has always been in love with you, I’m surprised that I’ve known her well for just a day and I know she loves you and you haven’t realised till now ?” Audrey asked him.

Phil couldn’t believe his ears, had May told Audrey she loved him ? No that wasn’t possible, May wouldn’t, then why did Audrey feel like that ? Even Fitz had said something like that, Coulson thought he must’ve been way too ignorant if he hadn’t realised something that everyone around him seemed to have noticed.

“Did May tell you ?” He asked anyways.  
“Of Course not” Audrey said snorting “Do you think she would ? I’d be surprised if she realised it yet, but I know, I saw it in her voice and eyes, you should see her when she talks about you Phil .. it’s like .. how do I explain ? It’s like she is in some form of trance, as if it was just her and her thoughts at that moment”

“You’d make a good detective you know” Coulson chuckled.

“Got a place for me in SHIELD ?” Audrey replied laughing and said “I’m happy with my Cello, but seriously Phil, there is a certain brightness in her eyes when she speaks about you, she doesn’t even realise that she’s smiling when she’s talking about you, I think those are definitely the symptoms of being in love”

Coulson felt a bit awkward about having this conversation with Audrey, afterall he had been in a relationship with her for quite a long time.

“I had asked her if what you both had was more than friendship” Audrey said in order to explain this to Coulson.  
“You did ?” Coulson looked at her surprised.  
“When I had seen her the last time before all this mess happened it was .. well… it was during your …” Audrey found it tough to say.  
“Funeral” Coulson said it for her.  
“Yeah, and the Melinda, I had seen that day was very different from what you all know” Audrey said.  
“What do you mean ?” Coulson asked, unsure if he should. He knew his funeral was a topic he had avoided speaking about with anyone and Audrey wouldn’t be someone he would want to talk about because he had known it had affected her deeply, but he wanted to know what she meant.

“She didn’t really come to the funeral as such. Most of them who had been there had come to meet me, but she didn’t, I hadn’t even known that she was there until I went back to your grave after the whole ceremony was over because I’d forgotten something there, that’s when I saw her” Audrey said struggling to find the words. Coulson knew this was a tough topic, that memories of it hurt Audrey.

“It’s ok if you don’t ..” he tried to say but she didn’t listen.  
“I was surprised to see this woman kneeling near grave, just staring at it, she hadn’t realised anyone coming there, not even me, she just kept looking at your grave as if that was the only thing she knew to do, when she finally broke down, I was there, I didn’t go to her but I had seen her break down, that friend of yours Maria ? she had come there and Melinda hugged her and that’s when she broke down, she didn't cry, she was just there silent, didn't say a word. Maria called someone and a little later a lady looking slightly like May came and that's when she started crying, she ... She noticed me while leaving, I myself didn't know why I had been standing there seeing the whole scene unfold, but it was so personal, there were many people at your funeral but I felt like I had seen someone who really knew you and ..." Audrey trailed off.

Coulson hadn’t realised he had tears in his eyes as he heard this. He had never even thought of what May must’ve gone through after his ‘death’ he had thought that maybe she’d been told of Tahiti, but the fact that she had faced his death,visited his grave and now listening to what Audrey had said, he knew that she was really badly affected.

“I didn’t know ..” Coulson said.  
“But now you do Phil, and you shouldn’t waste more time, and hearing your team, I can say you’ve both spent way too long avoiding this, you should tell her soon enough ..” Audrey said.  
Phil just gave her a small smile and gripped her hand even more tightly.  
“You need to move on Phil, you’ve been given a second chance with May, don’t let it go.” Audrey said.  
“So should you Aud. you need to move on as well” Phil replied.  
“This might be the most awkward conversation between two exes but..” Audrey paused before saying “there is someone new ..” Audrey said.  
“Oh” Phil said really not knowing how to react to that. If he had the chance to move on, so did Audrey, and he was happy for her. 

“Dave, we’ve been dating for a few months, he’s a policeman, seems I tend to fall for guys with dangerous job profiles huh ?” Audrey said.  
Coulson chuckled at that and said “I’m happy for you, wish you all the luck”  
“Thanks, but I need to get back home, if I need to move on” Audrey said.  
“Yeah about that, I’m not sure if you should go back to the same house” Phil said.  
“I’ll make sure I’ll be safe Phil” Audrey replied “I’ll move in with a friend for the time being”

Phil nodded his head and said “Take care, I’ll tell Keonig to arrange for you to go back, keep in touch Aud.”

“Sure will, now go back to that woman downstairs in med bay who I am sure will be fine, and you will let her know of your feelings,right ?” Audrey asked.

“Yeah” Phil said.

They both went downstairs and Phil gave Audrey a hug before going into the med bay to sit beside May. As he was set to bid goodbye to one phase of his life, he was set to begin a new one.

A few minutes later Audrey was set to leave with Keonig and Trip, the rest of the team came back to give her a hug and wished her goodbye.

_______________________

 

Time seemed to have passed on slower than ever for the team, while they took turns to sit in the med bay with May during day time, Coulson used to take over the duty for the night. He used to sit there beside her, talking to her. Simmons had told that sometimes talking to the patients helped them in their recovery. So that is what they all did.  
Skye would sit beside her and tell her that she missed being trained by her, she used to tell her that she purposefully skipped Tai Chi and training, to see if that would encourage a reaction from May.  
Fitz would sit and tell her what he did with his physiotherapy. How he was struggling with walking again and that he missed May, especially her scolding when he was being lazy.  
Simmons would babble science stuff to her non stop, she’d give her updates on the team’s health.  
Even Keonig gave his best to try and make her wake up. He told her about what new issues had come up and how he found it tough to manage everything.  
Trip had told her that he was enjoying being in the cockpit and that he’d bring about a lot of changes in ‘her’ bus by the time she’d wake up, if she was late in doing so.

Everyone continued to give their best but no one managed to succeed. It had been more than a week since they’d been back and there was no change in May’s condition. She was still on the ventilator and was breathing with the help of tubes connected to her.  
Simmons got more than worried about the possible brain damage considering her condition and with passage of time she felt as if the chances of May coming back was reducing with every passing day.

“Sir, it’s been 8 days and now I don't know what to do, we contacted the best SHIELD doctors we could but all they said was nothing can be predicted .. ” Jemma told Coulson with a heavy heart.  
“What do you mean Jemma ?” Coulson asked her, already guessing where the conversation was going.  
“I know this is hard for us to speak about and I'm just talking as her doctor here, and it's my duty to inform you that she ... This whole thing is having an impact on her too, we don't know what she's going through .. It's taking a toll on her too. She's breathing artificially and showing no signs of improvement .." She paused before continuing, this was hard, she herself saw May as a family member and being a doctor right now was tough, yet she had to do her duty, "I talked to Dr. Edmund yesterday, asking him to consult on May's case, he's the best Doctor SHIELD has had who has managed to survive the Hydra attack and he said the chances of her coming back from the coma seem quite dim right now” Jemma said struggling.

“So what we give up ?” he asked a bit angry and Jemma said hesitantly "no sir, I care about May as much as all of you, but it's my duty to inform that we can't get our hopes up atleast not until May shows some sign that she's around here" 

“I'm not doing that” Phil told her softly, he realised Jemma was just doing her job, she was doing so much for May and he couldn't thank her enough and before Jemma could say anything he continued “No Jemma, I can't stop keeping hope that May's going to be back, I can't give up on her and that's what I can request of you people too" he said resting a hand on her shoulder. "and I know you care about May as much as me, anyways you’re talking of a situation that ‘might’ happen, and I have full faith she'll be back so we’re not talking about that, and right now, I need to spend time with May”

Jemma could see that this wait was taking a toll on major toll on Director Coulson as well. He was neither eating well, nor was he managing to get any sleep. She felt that if May would continue like this for longer, he might really fall sick, but she couldn’t mention about this to him, she knew he wouldn’t listen, so she decided to drop the topic for the moment and left.

Fitz stopped her and asked “What did you tell him ?”  
“Just informed that Dr.Edmund said her chances of coming back are very less.” Jemma replied.  
“You shouldn’t have, he loves her” Fitz said.  
“What ?” Jemma asked surprised, it’s not that she didn’t feel that there was more to friendship between these two people, because it was evident, but she thought Coulson was still with Audrey so never said anything about this.  
“Yeah he’s been in love with her since forever, realised it just now” Fitz said.  
“Oh Fitz that is ..” Jemma trailed, unable to find her voice.  
“I know” Fitz said, he opened his arms as Jemma gave him a tight hug and buried her head in his chest as he wrapped his arms around her securely.

____________________

“Hey Melinda” Phil said as he sat beside her in the place that he had been occupying since the last 8 days.  
“I really need you now more than ever Melinda, I tried very hard to fight it but it’s taking a toll on me, I found myself carving again, today morning, I’m lucky the team didn’t find out but I’m scared. I know .. I know, I shouldn’t be scared because you’re here with me but I still am and I don’t know what to do, I need you there with me, I need you to be the one to have my back during such times, I felt so lost, I can’t fight this without you, I don’t want to. I know you want to scold me for giving up on myself, so get up and scold me … “ He trailed off and took her hand in his and kept it beside his cheek and said “Please… please Melinda, I … I feel lost and confused without you here with me, I don’t feel like myself. Skye scolded me, said I should take care of myself and that you’d hate to see me like this after you wake up, I tried following her orders but it’s tough. She reminds me so much of you, he said with a chuckle, she isn’t scared, even if it involves scolding the Director of SHIELD and her boss, she isn’t scared to do that”.

He paused for a few moments and continued “Jemma told me that you might wake up Melinda. She said that the chances of you coming back are..” He couldn’t complete the sentence and felt tears coming out of his eyes and whether it was considering how weak he felt with the lack of a proper diet or whether it was the intensity of the situation, he didn’t feel the need to stop them.

“I know she was doing her job and I respect her for that, I tried to act as if I'm brave at that moment but I'm not, I'm so scared, scared of what I'll be without you, scared of you not being there. I don't want to believe what Edmund says, but you're making it tough, please .. Just .. Wake up” he said keeping his eyes close, to try and stop the tears but failing to do so.

After a minute or so, he could a finger slightly moving across his cheek, a touch as light as a feather, he felt someone weakly brushing off the tears off his face. He jerked his eyes open to see Melinda there, her eyes faintly open and she was gently rubbing her her finger across his cheek to wipe off his tears, as he had been holding her hand. Even at this moment all she cared about was him.

“Melinda …” Coulson said, his voice sounding better than it had since a long time. “You’re you’re awake” saying this he ran out to the intercom to announce “Jemma come here right now, May .. she .. she’s awake”

Considering how much everyone had wanted to see a change in May’s condition, Jemma and the team were already there by the time he finished his statement.

Jemma immediately rushed over to May’s side to check her vitals.

“May we’re so glad you’re finally awake” Jemma said. May tried to say something but was immediately ordered by Jemma not to “Don’t try to speak, I’m going to remove these tubes now to help you breathe on your own, I need you to cough while I remove it ok ?” Jemma said and May nodded.

As Jemma removed the tube from May’s mouth, May did as ordered and once the tube was out of her mouth she took in air as if she had just come out from underwater.

Jemma got to checking her mental status. 

“What’s your name ?” Jemma asked.  
In an extremely raspy voice, that hurt a bit while she spoke Melinda replied “Melinda Qiaolian May”

“Good, and any idea where you are right now ?” Jemma asked.

“Looks ... like the ... Playground’s ... med bay” May replied.

“So you remember you’re a SHIELD agent right ?” Jemma asked.

“Yes, Agent Melinda May” she replied.

“Good, do you have any idea why are you here ?” Jemma asked.

“I was captured by Whitehall and Phil came to rescue me” May replied, finding it really tiresome to answer any more questions she said “I’m fine Jemma”

“Oh you’re far from that Agent May, I won’t even consider your condition remotely close to being fine, you need to take care, eat properly, no active field duty till I’m assured you’ll be ok and no sparring also and neither moving around a lot, you get that ?” Jemma said in her strict voice.

May couldn’t help but think the girl seemed dedicated and rather adorable when she did that. “Yes doctor” she replied. Jemma a bit embarrassed then said “I’m serious Agent May, you almost …” she didn’t know how to continue so Skye finished off for her seeing May’s confused face “Well you almost died May, don’t do this to us again, we” she said pointing to the team here “We can’t work without you” she said with a sad smile.

“I almost died ?” May asked still surprised.

“Yeah, it’s been 8 well almost 9 days since you were rescued, you’ve been in a coma on a ventilator” Fitz said.

May was surprised and rather shocked by the new discovery. Her eyes immediately went in search of Coulson and she found him standing in the corner with a sad smile on his face, his eyes still red with tears, his face pale and if he hadn’t eaten anything for days.

Noticing May’s line of sight Trip said “I guess we should leave Agent May and Director Coulson alone for some time”

“Yeah, they need to talk and May needs to scold Coulson for not taking care of himself” Skye said.

“Take care May” Fitz and Jemma said in unison and the rest of the team wished her good health and left.

It was just Phil and Melinda now left in the room. The silence in the room was extremely loud, no one dared to say a word, the intensity of the situation could be felt extremely well.

Phil walked up to her and sat beside her again. He thought how for the past 8 days, he’d been sitting here, waiting for her to wake up and speak to him and now when she did, he didn’t know what to say.

“Skye is right, I am going to scold you for not taking care of yourself” May said to start the conversation and break the awkward silence.  
“Well the person who usually makes sure I do that was a bit busy fighting death and stuff” Coulson replied trying to joke. Relief and happiness clear on his face. He felt like a long battle had come to an end. A huge struggle was now over.  
May chuckled a bit at that and then winced a bit in pain.  
“Hey” he said a moment later.  
“Hey” she replied looking at him with a smile.  
“I’m so happy to hear that” He said.  
“Huh ?” May asked confused.  
“For the past 8 days, I would come here everyday and say ‘hey’ to you, waiting for you to say it back, but you didn’t, it took you way too long to respond” he said.  
May gave him a sad smile at that.  
“How are you ?” he asked and immediately realised it was a stupid question.  
Melinda looked at him with a smirk and said “How do you think I am ? Obviously in pain” she said.  
“Yeah, sorry” he said chuckling a bit at that.  
“So I almost died huh ?” May asked.  
“Yeah, not a very nice experience right ?” He asked.  
“Definitely not” she said.  
Both trying their best to joke, knowing that the situation was much much more different than that.  
“I’m so glad you’re alive, I couldn’t afford losing you Melinda” Coulson said.  
“It’s nice to see you call me that” May replied.  
“What ?” Coulson asked curiously.  
“Melinda, the last time you called me by my first name was when you asked me to join the team” Melinda replied.  
“Well I’ve been you calling that for more than a week now” Phil replied.  
They both smiled at that.  
“It means a lot to me that you’re alive, I don’t know what I would’ve done without you” Coulson said.  
“Yeah, seems someone did really want me back here, and I just couldn’t refuse” May said.  
Coulson knew he had to confess about his feelings to her soon, he just wasn’t sure if now was the right time. He decided he would do that in a better situation.  
“You know the team worked really hard to save you, you’ll be so proud of them” Coulson said.  
“I already am” Melinda replied gladly.  
"Fitz and Skye scolded me a lot for risking your life like that” Coulson replied.  
“It wasn’t your fault Phil, you mean a lot to me, a lot, I don’t regret the decisions I took, I’d take them again and again if it meant that you’re fine” Melinda replied.  
“I don’t deserve that amount of loyalty” He said guiltily.  
“It’s not loyalty, it’s friendship” May replied.  
“I was angry when you came out of that cell while Whitehall was taking me” Coulson replied.  
“I know, I was angry when you risked your life to save mine” May replied.  
“That’s just how we are huh ?” Coulson asked.  
“Totally” May said with a smile and continued “For me your life and the teams’ life matters more than anything Phil, and no matter what I will never back out from risking mine to save both” she said.

Phil nodded his head in approval and said “Yeah I know”

“It was Fitz who managed to tell how those people found out about you going to Portland, seems they managed to implant a chip into my tab that controlled the big screen in my room” Phil said.  
“Really ?” May asked surprised.  
“Yeah, he worked really hard to save you, that gun you shot from, which took down Whitehall it’s a more ‘cooler’ version of the ICERs that he and Jemma designed together” Coulson replied. “I was so proud of him and felt you’d be too”  
May nodded. “I’m really proud of them, they're great kids"  
“and Skye, she was totally in-charge of this mission after me, from finding the location where you were kept to making sure we weren’t caught by Hydra guys, she did a great job, and Trip, he took charge of the situation when I couldn’t, he drives the bus well, though not as good as you but really well and Jemma worked so hard in saving you, she gave it her best, she’s been checking up on you every ten to fifteen minutes till I forced her to go take rest” Coulson said grinning proudly.

“We trained them well right ?” May asked.

“Yeah” Coulson replied.

Coulson and May both couldn’t help but wonder they felt like two really proud parents talking about their kids.

“I guess you need to take some rest, I’ll come back soon” Coulson said.

May nodded and said “You need rest as well Phil, go get something to eat and then some sleep”  
Phil nodded and began to leave when he was stopped by May “Phil ?”  
He turned to look at her.  
“How’s ...Audrey ?” she asked.  
“Fine, I’ll talk to you later” Coulson said before he left.

May was happy that she was alive, that Phil was alive, that Audrey was alive, the team was safe, but she couldn’t refuse the thought that her heart broke a bit to think about Coulson going to Audrey right now, but she cleared those thoughts telling herself that he was happy and that’s all that mattered to her.

A day later, after arguing with Simmons, Melinda finally managed to convince her that she was better and that she could use her own bunk instead of this Med Bay.

Jemma as always wasn’t convinced. She believed that Melinda May needed constant care and regular check ups but was not able to win an argument with her,though her condition that May wouldn’t walk much but use a wheelchair for the time being or someone’s support to walk, was something Melinda had to reluctantly agree with.

Phil Coulson had taken up the duty of updating Simmons regularly about the Melinda’s well being.

“I hate this” Melinda said.  
“C’mon it’s just a wheelchair, it makes Simmons feel convinced that you’re fine, you know you ended up tearing up your stitches way too many times, and you did bleed out a lot, so I’m not surprised that she’s this worried.” Coulson said as he helped Melinda to sit on the wheelchair and then helped her move out.  
Melinda was mostly silent through the journey and realised Coulson had taken her to outside to the hangar instead of her bunk.  
“Where are we going ?” Melinda asked him confused.  
“You’ll see” Coulson replied with a mischievous smile.  
Her confusion increased as they entered the bus, curiosity at it’s peak.  
Then a familiar fragrance caught her attention and she couldn’t help but smile.  
He took her to the lounge in the bus where on the centre table, she could see a plate of her favourite White-chocolate Macadamia nuts’ cookies along with 2 glasses of hot chocolate milk were kept.  
She looked up at Coulson with a smile and he helped her get up from the chair and sit on the couch.  
“I promised you I’ll make this for you when you’re back, well it’s a bit late but I had to keep my promise” He said with a grin.  
Melinda couldn’t help but smile at his sweet gesture. She was already in love with this guy, and he was making it much tougher to be just friends by being such an adorable dork.  
Coulson couldn’t help but smile as he saw Melinda dip a cookie in the chocolate milk and eat it, the way she shut her eyes as she took a bite and the grin on her face. She looked so beautiful, he was a lucky guy indeed, he thought to himself.

“Aren’t you going to eat” Melinda asked after noticing him staring at her, the way he looked at her made her heart flutter and she found it really hard not to lean over and give him a kiss.

“I’m very much content to just watching you do that” Phil said and after a second added “that sounded a bit creepy didn’t it ?”

“A little bit” May replied and they both laughed. Coulson couldn’t help the fluttering of his heart as he saw this woman in front of him laugh like that, to know that his gesture brought that smile made him feel proud of himself, he had been preparing for this moment long enough and he was going to do that today at any cost.

__________________________

“Where are AC and May ?” Skye asked as she walked into the lab where Jemma and Fitz were super busy.

“I saw him taking her outside, towards the bus” Trip replied from behind.

“Ooooo, I think there are some confessions that are going to happen” Skye said happily.

“ I hope so, they’ve waited way too long” Fitz said.

“Yeah it’ll be nice to see them happy together” Jemma added.

“Totally agreed” Trip said.

___________________________

“Can I ask you something Phil ?” Melinda asked while they were busy munching on the cookies. May wanted to cuddle into him but wasn’t really sure if she should.

“Go ahead” Coulson replied, curious as to what she’ll ask.

“Where’s ... Audrey ?” Melinda asked reluctantly.

The first thing she had to ask was about Audrey. This woman never failed to leave him awestruck. She cared for him, she wanted to know if he was happy, he loved Melinda for this.

“She’s back in Portland, right now at her sister’s place” Coulson replied.

Melinda nodded her head.

“Did you both ..” she said unsure of how to continue “Did you both patch up ?” she finally asked.

“She was angry that I didn’t tell her about being alive, and it might take her time to forgive me but yeah it’s better than before” Coulson replied.

“Good .. good” May said.

Knowing that he had to tell her more than that and not confuse her and realising that it was now or never, Coulson said “Though I don’t think we’ll ever be together again”

“Oh ? Why ?? I thought you said she forgave you .. I .. I’m sorry about that, I should have made sure she didn’t find out you were alive, but there was no option, I’m so sorry…” May said.

“Hey … Hey …. Hey, it’s not your fault, rather I should thank you” Coulson said.

“Thank me ? are you sure you’re ok ?” May asked.

“Yeah, thanks to you, we got a proper closure to our relationship, and I realised something I should have much much earlier.” Coulson replied.

May nodded her head and then said “I’m sure it was just in the intensity of the moment, she’ll forgive you Phil, I’m sure about that, you both will be fine” May said trying to divert her mind from the possibility that this meant a chance at them being together, because she knew Coulson loved Audrey.

“No I don’t think that’ll happen” Coulson said, “she’s forgiven me, but we still can’t be together” he said.

“Why ?” She asked. She was curious as to why Coulson was adamant about his relationship with Audrey being over. 

“Well two reasons majorly” he said shrugging his shoulders.

“You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to” May said.

“Actually I should, it somewhat concerns you as well” Coulson said.

“Sorry ?” May asked, now really surprised.

“Well one reason is that she’s moved on, she’s dating someone new” Coulson said.

“Oh! I’m so sorry about that” May replied.

“and the second reason being that .. " he paused taking in a deep breath, he couldn't believe he was finally going to say this "I realised I need to move on as well, be with someone I really am in love with, have always been” Coulson replied to look at May directly into her eyes.

The look in his eyes, the truth, the intensity in way he looked at her was enough and May knew what he meant, May knew who he meant, the thought of it, filled her heart with an amount of joy, she couldn’t really measure, this could mean that Phil Coulson was in love with her, and that would be a big step, it would change the dynamics of their friendship forever, it was a big step and so she s asked “Who ?” Just waiting for the confirmation that what she was thinking was true.

“You” Coulson replied straightforwardly.

May didn’t know how to respond to that. She wanted to say something, to tell him she felt the same way about him but she felt like she was unable to find her voice, as if her emotions had taken a complete control over her actions. Maybe it was the effect of the pain meds and the realisation of his words, she could feel tears filling up her eyes.

“Hey .. Hey .. hey … Don’t cry, I can’t see you cry” Coulson said and moved forward and brushed his thumb across her cheeks to wipe off her tears.

Before she could say anything Coulson said “I know this is sudden, and I know I should have waited to see if you felt the same way about me, but 10 days back when I almost lost you, I realised ..” He found it tough to continue but still did “it took me almost losing you to realise how much I love you, and I couldn’t risk that happening again and me never getting a chance to tell you, if you don’t think of me that way, I understand, but I really really love you Melinda May, I always did, I just failed to realise that and I wanted to tell you before life plans to put me again in a situation where I Have to go through the regret of not telling you.” he said, with as much courage as he could gather.

She just looked up at him blankly. He stared at her and then after a moment said “I really screwed it up didn’t I ?” he asked and then turned his head to look away. That’s when he felt her hand on his cheek turning his face to make him look at her again.

Her voice conveying her emotions, Melinda said “Say that again”

“I love you Melinda May, I always have, I always will” Coulson said looking straight into her eyes. His eyes conveying his emotion better than his words ever could.

He got the confirmation about Melinda’s feelings as well, when she gave him a tiny yet a beautiful smile. With her palm still rested on his cheek, she pulled him towards her, and kissed him softly on the lips. Their kiss that had been waiting for years to happen, both of them putting all of their emotion,love,affection and feelings into that because whatever they said now couldn’t match the amount of emotion they felt, so this was the best way they could show.

After breaking the kiss for the need of oxygen, Melinda looked back at him and gave him a smile and he smiled back. She said “I love you to Phil, just took me a while to realise”.

Coulson smiled at her, the goofy smile that Melinda loved the most about him.

They turned back to relax on the couch and now instead of keeping each other at arms length Phil rested his arm around her shoulder, while she cuddled into his chest.

“I want to eat more cookies” she said.

“Your wish is my command” Phil answered.

A moment later Phil said “You know the kids realised we were in love even before we did”

“Yeah ?” she asked looking up at him, she wanted to see him again and again, Phil Coulson, her Phil Coulson.

“Yes, they had been giving us hints but we were way too blind to realise that” Phil said.

“Been Agents of SHIELD for way too long, so our concentration has been elsewhere” May said.

“Yeah.. I’m surprised even Audrey realised it earlier than me” Coulson replied.

“She did ?” Melinda asked, now really surprised.

“Yes the day she saw you at my funeral” Coulson replied a bit gloomily.  
“She told you ?” Melinda asked in a small voice.

“She did” Coulson replied.

“Oh” Melinda replied.

“It’s ok, it’s all in the past” Coulson said “I’m glad we're here now, better late than never huh ?”

“Yeah” Melinda said, cuddling in closer, resting her ear on his chest to listen to his heartbeat.

“I was so scared to think I almost lost you” Coulson said after a few minutes of silence.

“I’m here now” Melinda said.

“Yeah .. and I’m not letting you go anywhere” Phil replied.

“You can’t really do that” Melinda said.

“I know but a guy can hope right ?” Phil asked.

Melinda chuckled at that “Yeah a guy can”

“I love you so much Melinda” Coulson said.

“I love you to Phil” Melinda replied.

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“Shouldn’t we be going back ? the kids must be worried” Melinda said.

“They can manage” Coulson said.

“In that case, my feet are hurting, can you help me ?” May asked with a smirk.

“At your service” Phil said as she leaned down to rest her head on the arm of the couch and rested her feet on his lap.

“I love you” Phil said in between pressing her feet.  
“I know” Melinda replied.  
“I just like saying that” Coulson said.  
“I know” Melinda replied.  
They didn’t know what future held for them but as long as they were together, they could easily fight all the ghosts of past,present and future, it took him time and it almost had cost him to lose Melinda forever but finally he had realised who his "Only Light in Darkness" was and he wasn't going to let her go away from him for as long as he could. They had been through so much, and he was certain they'd go through worse, but they'd do it - together,


End file.
